Curated and produced by UP Projects Bodies of Water is a site-specific public art commission by Anne Duk Hee Jordan, which is presented 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 has created two site-specific sculptural works that harvest, filter and circulate rainwater whilst following the principles of regenerative and sustainable design. These unique public artworks 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 and local artists, 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 Neimanis’, Canadian cultural historian, 2017 book, Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology, which focusses on the myriad relationships humans have with water, oceans, and aquatic life; Neimanis 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. For Bodies of Water, Jordan’s site-specific interventions explore the politics of water by drawing upon science, historic wisdom, nature and biomimicry.
Not only raising awareness but inspiring action, this 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.
About the Artworks
I travelled 66 million years to be with you and then you came
A la Ronde, Exmouth; 4 June - 2 November 2025
I I travelled 66 million years to be with you and then you came is a temporary public sculpture, created specifically for the meadow at A la Ronde. The artwork features large-scale barnacles resting on a base of four slate boulders embedded with locally sourced fossils. The sculpture symbolises the power of natural materials to filter and purify water.
Barnacles are strong indicators of water quality in coastal ecosystems. Their ability to cling tightly to sea surfaces, even in the rough flow of waves, makes them symbols of resilience and adaptability. These giant barnacles were fabricated by Bristol-based Plenderleith Scantlebury using Roman concrete combined with biochar (a plant-based version of activated charcoal used for water filtration), shell fragments, zeolite minerals (natural water purifiers made of aluminum and silica), and iron oxide, which is used in wastewater treatment to remove heavy metals. The crushed shells echo the Shell Gallery inside A la Ronde. Birds and insects are encouraged to use the water collected and filtered by the barnacles.
The biochar was made from plant cuttings from the gardens by Flete Field Lab, a local collective developing nature-based remedies for soil and water issues. This approach echoes the Victorian history of A la Ronde: in 1904, Oswald Reichel installed two underground brick tanks capable of collecting up to 300,000 litres of rainwater for the central heating system. Today, these tanks support the irrigation system in the gardens, enabling the site to be fully independent of mains water.
The sculpture also connects to the Jurassic Coast through the embedded fossils: 158-million-year-old Parkinsonia and 195-million-years-old Arnioceras Ammonites from Dorset, 160-million-years-old Belemnites and Amoeboceras from Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire
UP Projects would like to thank the partners, fabricators, collaborators and friends who have helped us to realise I travelled 66 million years to be with you and then you came at A la Ronde in Exmouth: David Collings and Karen Kelly at A la Ronde (National Trust), Barbara Wood and Tom Freshwater (National Trust), Mark Plenderleith and Lisa Scantlebury (Plenderleith Scantlebury), Frank Foley and Shelley Castle (Flete field Lab), Cameron Bishop, George Belsey & Mark Austin, Richard Smith (Stert Farm Quarry), Andrew Ruck, Laura Norris and Pak Yin Lee (Civic Engineers), Alice Bonnot and Graciela Melitsko Thornton (Julie’s Bicycle), Sarah Elghady (Arts & Culture East Devon), Anne-Marie Culhane, Lara Goodband and Thomas Cadbury (Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter), Dr Monica Craciun, Dr Mike Allen and Peter Melville-Shreeve (University of Exeter), and Robin Horner (RSPB).
Snail on me
Haigh Hall, Wigan; 13 September 2025 – September 2030
Snail on me, created specially for the Walled Garden at Haigh Hall represents a hybrid chimera, combining slugs, snails, and mythological creatures. The sculpture collects and harvests rainwater, channeling it down a curtain of rain chains into a newly created wildlife pond. The pond, the surrounding natural stumpery, flowers, ferns, aquatic plant life, and sculpted bug hotels, offer new habitats for insects and amphibians.
At the top of the sculpture sits “Popo”, a small creature of the artist’s imagination that refers to Feng-po-po, the goddess of wind in Chinese folklore. According to myth, her moods can conjure strong winds and control rainfall, and she serves to protect water and the environment. Multiple snake tongues reference the Greek myth of Medusa who, often misunderstood as a monster, also represents a powerful protector over women and the sea.
Slugs and snails often feature in Jordan’s work. While viewed by many as pests, they play an important, positive role in the ecosystem as decomposers, recyclers and food for other animals. Their slow pace, resilience, and unique reproductive strategies (they possess both male and female reproductive organs) highlight the resilience and survival tactics of the more-than-human world.
Snail on me invites us to think about the importance of water, and the urgent need for better water management, both locally and across the globe. The rainwater collected in this new pond flows via an underground pipe to another body of water nearby, playing a part in the flood management of the walled garden. The plants within and around the pond have been carefully curated to attract a diversity of life-forms, and just like the snails and slugs in our gardens, Snail on me plays an important role in supporting the natural ecosystem of Haigh Woodland Park.
The installation is composed of steel, aluminium rain chains, fog harvesting steel mesh, fibreglass, ceramic, plants: sensory planting including Geranium, Shuttlecock ferns, Primula, Ragged Robin, Meadowsweet, Bottlebrush; aquatic oxygenating plants including Hornwort and Starwort; floating plants including Water Buttercup, and Water Lilies.
UP Projects would like to thank the partners, fabricators, collaborators and friends who have helped us to realise Snail on me at Haigh Hall in Wigan: Peter Hughes, Donna Hardiman, Dr. Sylvia Travers, Joanne Parr, Kate Brindley, Lauren Butler and everyone in the Haigh Hall staff and volunteer teams; Sam Fish David Stupple, Tom Brett, Les Chappell, Tim Mileusnic, Sharon and Mark (Fish Fabrications); Hami Ebrahami and Lucy Tomlins (Pangaea Sculptor Centre); Adam Ash, Colin Burden and Sam Scholes (Plincke Landscaping); James Smith and Kate Broadbent (Horticon); Laura Norris and Charlotte Cameron (Civic Engineers); Anna FC Smith; Karen Buckels, Marie-Clare Kenyon, Lee McStein, Ryan Millington and Farai Nhakaniso (Community Ambassadors); Al and Al; Alice Bonnot and Graciela Melitsko Thornton (Julie’s Bicycle); Scott and Christina Blevin (Rain Chains Direct).
Online platform
Jordan has created a new interactive digital platform that connects the two public art commissions situated in Exmouth and Wigan. This website offers real-time tracking of local temperature and rainfall at both locations, while also monitoring the carbon footprint of each visit to highlight the environmental impact of our online presence. Visitors can explore in-depth information about the commissioned artworks, access a calendar of public events, and delve into a curated library of resources focused on environmental practice, queer ecologies, and the politics of water. Visit here.
Community Collaboration Programme
To inform the development of Bodies of Water, a Community Collaboration Programme took place across Summer of 2024 and 2025 at A la Ronde, Exmouth and Haigh Hall, Wigan respectively.
Between June 2024 and August 2025, 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 included Karen Buckels, Marie-Clare Kenyon, Lee McStein, Ryan Millington and Farai Nhakaniso. The group drew key insights and themes from Duk Hee’s proposals for Snail on me, reflected on the histories and folklore of Haigh Hall and both the politics of water and water management locally, rooted in their local knowledge. Engaging with the mythology of Snail on me, the Community Ambassadors created collages of Popo, which have fed into the visual identity for the overall project. Additionally, Anna FC Smith, Karen Buckels and Farai Nhakaniso sculpted stoneware and ceramic insect hotels, which form part of Snail on me.
The workshops were a space for the Community Ambassadors and Anna FC Smith to collectively devise and co-curate the temporary artworks, performances and activities at the launch of Snail on me at Haigh Hall on Saturday 13th September 2025. Each activity was shaped through public engagement during Summer 2025, exploring water through myth and folklore, ecology, and multi-species connection. The Bodies of Water Launch programme was a celebration of water, biodiversity, and the power of creative action: including two new commissions by Dustin Lyon and Alison Cooper (Magpahi), workshops and performances by Zephie Begolo, Everything Human Rights Kubatana Dance Group, Groundwork, and The Frog.
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. To celebrate the launch of I travelled 66 million years to be with you and then you came in June 2025, East-Devon based musician, Emma Welton drew on the water filtration capacities of barnacles and mussels to lead an intergenerational musical workshop singing to the River Exe.
Bodies of Water is commissioned and curated by UP Projects working in partnership with National Trust and Wigan Council. It is generously funded by Arts Council England and Art Fund and Vallum Associates, and supported by Goethe-Institut with engineering support from Civic Engineers. Rain chains donated by Rain Chains Direct.
If you’re interested in receiving any further info about this project, email Communications and Development Coordinator Zoe Scholes at zoe@upprojects.com.
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.
Visitor Information
Travel related to art is a notable source of carbon dioxide emissions. To lessen our carbon footprint UP Projects encourages travelling by ecological means and avoiding flying and private car usage whenever possible. For travelling ecologically to visit A la Ronde and Haigh Hall, we recommend the following tips and routes:
Address: A la Ronde
Summer Lane
Exmouth EX8 5BD
Tuesday to Sunday | 10.30AM - 5.00PM
Last admission to the House is 4.00PM
Getting here:
Tip: The lowest emission route to visit A la Ronde is to travel by public transport:
- Exmouth is well connected by rail (30 minutes from Exeter-St-Davids)
- The nearest bus stop is approx half a mile from the property. There is a regular bus service from Exeter and Exmouth. Timetables can be found on the Stagecoach website.
Address: Haigh Hall
School Lane
Wigan WN2 1PE
(Access via Haigh Woodland Park)
Monday to Friday | 8.00AM - 6.00PM
Weekends | 7.30AM - 6.00PM
Getting here:
Tip: The lowest emission route to visit Haigh Hall is to travel by public transport and shared cars or taxis:
- Wigan North Western is well connected by rail (50 minutes train from Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street)
- Haigh Hall is a taxi ride from Wigan North Western station (18-20 minutes)
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