Curated and produced by UP Projects ‘Bodies of Water’ is a site-specific public art commission by Anne Duk Hee Jordan, which will unfold across two locations in England A la Ronde in Exmouth, East Devon and Haigh Hall in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 2025.
Bodies of Water is an ambitious project in response to the urgent environmental needs within the UK and internationally to manage water more effectively. Acknowledging that water moves in cycles, passing through humans and other organisms German/Korean artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan will create two site-specific sculptural works that will harvest, filter and circulate rainwater whilst following the principles of regenerative and sustainable design. These unique public artworks will explore the politics of water, drawing from the history of each of these locations, specialist knowledge from scientists, researchers and conservation specialists at Exeter University, RSPB and Julie's Bicycle. It is also underpinned by insights of local communities, engaged through a community collaboration programme in both locations.
Bodies of Water is Jordan’s first UK public commission, which sees the artist confronting the politics of water through an ecological lens. The title references Astrida Neimani’s, Canadian cultural historian, 2017 book, Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomonology, which focusses on the myriad relationships humans have with water, oceans, and aquatic life; Neimani considers the body as a vessel of water inviting readers to examine their responsibility in the climate emergency.
Bodies of Water is a continuation of Jordan’s longstanding interest in ecological phenomena and ecosystems, where they have previously conducted undersea diving excursions and scientific exchanges with marine biologists, toxicologists, ecologists and geologists.
Not only raising awareness but inspiring action, this latest project places an emphasis on the relationship between public art and the climate crisis, a major theme of concern for UP Projects over the past 20 years which has seen it commission innovative sculptural bird boxes, floating gardens, immersive VR works and new mural commissions that advocate for access to clean air.
Bodies of Water is commissioned and curated by UP Projects working in partnership with The National Trust, and Wigan Council. It is generously funded by Arts Council England and supported by Goethe-Institut, with engineering support from Civic Engineers.
If you’re interested in receiving any further info about this project, email Communications and Development Coordinator Zoe Scholes at zoe@upprojects.com.
Community Collaboration Programme
To inform the development of Bodies of Water, a Community Collaboration Programme took place during the Spring and Summer of 2024 across both sites at A la Ronde, Exmouth and Haigh Hall, Wigan respectively. Between June and August 2024, Wigan-based multimedia artist, Anna FC Smith led a series of co-created workshops with a group of local community ambassadors, who represented local organisations or groups, at Haigh Hall, Wigan. The group drew key insights and themes from Duk Hee’s proposals, and used the workshops as a space to collectively devise and propose a series of public activities and events which will take place at Haigh Hall in Autumn 2025.
Devon-based outdoor education specialist and Forest School expert, Richard Irvine, led workshops for children and young people across the Summer in 2024 at A la Ronde, Exmouth. A dedicated workshop was facilitated for pupils from Exeter Road Primary School, as well as workshops for local visitors, families and children from the Ukrainian Refugees East Devon. Both workshops invited the groups to use natural materials from the site at A la Ronde to collectively build a large water filtration vessel, exploring where our water comes from, how do we make it safe to drink and what its overall importance in our everyday lives is.
About A la Ronde
A la Ronde is an 18th-century, 16-sided cottage orné near Lympstone, Exmouth, Devon, England under the ownership of the National Trust. The house was built for two second cousins, Jane and Mary Parminter.
It is a Grade I registered building alongside the gardens which are Grade II listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
About Haigh Hall
Haigh Hall is a historic country house in Haigh, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Built between 1827 and 1840 for James Lindsay, 7th Earl of Balcarres, it replaced an ancient manor house and was a Lindsay family home until 1947, when it was sold to Wigan Corporation.
The hall is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building and is owned by Wigan Council.
