Move that stagnant pool along!
An experimental hour of field recordings and conversations exploring points of flow and stagnation in the landscape around the outlet of the Southern Outfall Sewer. This work was commissioned by TACO! for online radio broadcast on RTM.FM as part of the Estuary Festival 2021.
Taking its title from a disparaging article published in Punch Magazine in 1848, the broadcast takes a rhizomatic journey around the Thames and its landscape, pausing at Charlton riverside, Thamesmead, and Crossness. Through canals and sewers, flows of plant and animal life, water and waste, artist Natasha Bird presents and digests audio findings from her ongoing project Outfall, a research residency based around Crossness Pumping Station, supported by TACO!
Headphones recommended.
Conversations: Marine Operations Manager James Andrews and Barge Yard Supervisor John Daly at CORY, artist Dominika Kieruzel, Waterways Supervisor Chris Waite at Peabody, archival recording of a late '90s talk by David Wilkinson, courtesy David Wilkinson and the Crossness Archive.
Readings: excerpts from Punch Magazine, HG Wells, Deleuze & Guattari.
Field recordings in collaboration with Alex Stephens, sound design in collaboration with Alex Tuckwood.
With thanks to TACO!, the Crossness Engines Trust, CORY and the Crossness Archive.