Past Exhibitions
Taking in Water

Barry Anderson, Roni Horn, Boris Mikhailov, Hadrian Pigott, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Bettina von Zwehl

19 November 2004 to 16 January 2005

A pigeon drinking from a fountain, light glistening on the surface of the river Thames, these were two of the ordinary yet lyrical moments captured by artists in Taking In Water. This exhibition of work by British and international artists explored our relationship with water as life giver and life taker, a source of pleasure and danger.

© Still from Pigeon by Barry Anderson, 2003

© Still from Dream (of wanting, wetness and waste) by Hadrian Pigott, 1995

Hiroshi Sugimoto's Pacific Ocean Iwate is a meditation on the timeless nature of water and the vastness of oceans. Barry Anderson’s Pigeon is equally quiet, as it captures in slow motion a pigeon delicately drinking from a jet of water in a busy Italian piazza, a moment overlooked by all but the artist. Boris Mikhailov’s swimmers also appear oblivious of the camera as they bathe in the polluted waters of the salt lake hopeful of curing their ailments. Tap water appears to be used to repeatedly wash hands in The Dream (of wanting and wetness) by Hadrian Pigott until the washing of the sink becomes more intimate. There is a sensual overtone to Bettina von Zwehl’s subjects in Rain to as the rain glistens on the wet clothes of the women she photographed caught in a shower of water. Finally in In Still Water (The Thames, for example) Roni Horn encompasses our complex relationship with water in a series of images of the River Thames accompanied by footnotes of quotes about water, stories of drownings, her observations and questions addressed to the viewer. We are left considering an essential resource we too often take for granted.

Taking In Water was supported by Arts Council England, West Midlands.