Academics pour aquatic expertise into new Brighton art exhibition

Running until 22 December 2021, Silt examines cultural and physical relationships to water. The exhibition centres on a large scale sculptural installation accompanied by a series of studio works by London-based Nika Neelova, alongside additional work by Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo and American artist Rachael Champion, looking at issues such as the impact of dams on water supply to indigenous communities.

The exhibition title references the process in which materials suspended in water are deposited over time in pipes, at river mouths and estuaries. Silt is mineral rich, fundamental to shaping changing tidal landscapes and renewing fertility. But it is also unstable, thick and a challenge to free-flowing waterways.

Neelova collaborated with the Centre for Aquatic Environments to gain insights into how the natural world adapts to water scarcity, as well as the infrastructures humans have created throughout their history to manage water supply. The exhibition draws together diverse disciplines including archaeology, ethnography and literature, as well as natural sciences and ecology.

The Silt exhibition will be complemented by a series of other events featuring academics from the Centre for Aquatic Environments, beginning with a talk by Dr Lorna Linch on 10 November, exploring her research into the way icebergs scour vast imprints into silt and clay on the sea bed.

On 20 November, there are two interactive 'Listening Walks' created by Tilly Shiner. These hour-long circular walks will head from Kemptown along the coastline, listening to Tilly's 2021 sound composition The Last Freedom, based on ‘Marshman’ Flavian Capes' explorations of Essex salt marshes with musician Frank Turner.

A talk entitled WetlandLIFE on 8 December, meanwhile, explores ecological, economic, social and cultural values associated with wetlands in England. The talk features Dr Mary Gearey, Daphne Jackson Research Fellow in the School of Applied Sciences.