Salt of the Sea - Salt of the Earth

I've received two messages...about salt...

One message is from Vancouver; a weather report from a friend:
Weather wise, we got another huge snowfall on Saturday and another expected today or tomorrow. Vancouver has used 7000 tonnes of salt to melt ice so far, whereas most winters they only use 1000 tonnes. Salt shortage everywhere prompted Vancouver to hand out free salt on Wednesday but it was gone in minutes and people who had been lining up for it left disappointed.

Evidence plus Inspiration (in the field)

Professor Poole - wild man of the marshes

"Concern over climate change and rising sea level, coupled with recent extensive flooding across Europe, reminds us that wetlands, ranging from extensive coastal marshes to inland river floodplains, still dominate the landscape of many regions. In an era of intensive settlement and agriculture we often see water in such landscapes as a problem and complex drainage and flood defence systems have been constructed to control their watertables. In the past, however, water was perceived more as a resource..." 

In Print

A short post - and a re-blog.
My recent foray into the world of artist-book publishing has been highlighted online by one of the contributors; critic, curator Annick Bureaud.
Here is the link to her original posting.

"Lyons’s work deals with art and science but also with craftmanship, landscape and climate change, deep mapping and field recordings, poetry and environmental and land art, slowness and time, and much more."

Presence, resonances and shadows

Presence, residence and resonance
(aka  Anguilla meets Aguirre...)

"Nothing is really typical of my efforts . . . I'm simply casting about for better ways to crystallise and capture certain strong impressions (involving the elements of time, the unknown, cause and effect, fear, scenic and architectural beauty, and other seemingly ill-assorted things) which persist in clamouring for expression." Lovecraft, 1935

“Only the free-wheeling artist-explorer, non-academic, scientist-philosopher, mechanic, economist-poet who has never waited for patron-starting and accrediting of his co-ordinate capabilities holds the prime initiative today.” 
Richard Buckminster Fuller

The Confluence Project (Antony Lyons and Jon Pigott)
What is emerging for our 'end-of-year-of-residency' installation-works is a set of intriguing 'bio-physical instruments',  (or possibly better - if more awkwardly - described as an 'immersive bio-physical instrumental environment'! ). In a multi-sensory way, this will aim to communicate aspects of the local landscape's ecological dynamics - invisible dynamics -  together with physical - aquatic - processes. Importantly too, there is also an engagement with the materials - the visual and sonic properties of our chosen sculptural elements - to create an immersive, wondrous exhibition environment.

Tales of the Unexpected

These are a feature of any fieldwork, of any deep exploration of a territory - the real and the metaphorical 'turning over stones' and fossicking for hidden, yet vital, threads in the webs of meaning, along with the ecosystem-webs (or rhizomes). The landscape of the Confluence project is a 'watershed' or catchment. ('Watershed' was originally considered as the project title). It is a territory of relationships, not least of which are the human-nature involvements. Landscapes and inhabitants (human and non-human) have their individual rhythms and pace. Some of these are perhaps more obvious (day/night, tides, traffic flows…); others can be revealed through data-flows and monitoring. In a way, many of these rhythms form part of the 'hidden realms' which we've set out to explore in this project. We are examining patterns of bat activity, the ever changing clarity of the river-water and tidal 'muddiness' (turbidity).