Workshop： A Wishing River
Introduction
Sunday 15th of May, I took part in the workshop that holds by the Walkative Society. A group of people had been invited to a perambulation along the Thames Embankment led by the artist Rong Bao. The walk combined found-object sculpture making with elements of mudlarking. We worked together to create a "One Minute Sculpture" using items we found at the river.
Furthermore, we also participated in Rong's ongoing ‘wishing coin’ project involving three countries, four cities, and four important and famous water areas. A collective wish-making ceremony was completed by throwing coins brought by the artist from Turkey, Istanbul, and Ephesus.
Process&Reflection
Rong Bao and I first met at the It's All Fun Until exhibition. We found our works shared a common interest in everyday objects and the feeling of defamiliarization. She invited me to take part in her workshop and explore more about this subject.
Thames Bank is the junction between the river and the city. I was curious about what kind of objects would exist in such a place. How could the history of my personal experiences intersect with these objects?
It was a rainy day and the Thames was at high water. Only a small part of the mudflat along the shore could be used for treasure hunting. There were not as many man-made objects as I expected, more broken bones and gravel polished smooth by the river, with the occasional broken glass and rusty iron bars. But what really drew me in was the scene underneath the city drain and bridge, which is a negative for the whole city. You can see sewage draining into the river in the form of clean white bubbles, the bones of unknown creatures being washed up on the shore, and the underside of the arched bridge like a lid over the sky. Here time was visualised in the form of moss, rust and water, creating a space where I felt strongly that I was in the midst of the progress of time.
Process&Reflection
Afterwards, we separated into four groups and made sculptures from found objects. Some participants also placed their belongings into the structure. Our group built an architectural structure out of stones, steel pipes and tiles. Because it was directly underneath the Tate Modern, we imagined what the future gallery would look like; a ruin, a monument and a museum. The group named it Tate Henge.
To me, the best part of the whole event was that these one-minute sculptures will be left on that beach. To be submerged and broken up when the tide rises. These are objects that we have collected because they are somehow linked to our individual experiences and come back to the negative side of the city. These sculptures cannot exist apart from this beach, the individual elements of which weave value and meaning into each other.
Rong Bao (b.1997, China)
Robao is an artist who is currently based in London completing her MA in Sculpture at The Royal College of Art. She used to study Public Sculpture at the China Academy of Art and received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago after being awarded the Distinguished Scholarship.
Her works are using different materials to visualize the rebellion against nowadays micro-power by reversing the original function of everyday objects and putting them into a different context situation. By exaggerating the feeling of defamiliarization, she wants to encourage audiences not only to discover and experience vulnerability, but also to be tricked, and further question the convention of this world, to discover the discourses of power behind.
As a group leader, her project “Design for Non-Human Kinds, Toys for Elephants” was interviewed by NBC News in 2019. Rong’s work has been shown in exhibitions all around the world, including ‘EXPO CHICAGO 2022’, Navy Pier, Chicago (2022); ‘It’s All Fun Until’, Safehouse, London (2022); ‘We Won’t Stop Working’, SET Woolwich Gallery, London (2022); ‘Naturisms’ at 399 Hornesy Road, London (2021), ‘Street/Walk&Talk’ at West Carroll Ave, Chcago (2021); ’Art Nova 100 10th Anniversary Exhibition’, Guardian Art Center, Beijing (2020); ‘Art Bash 2019’ , Site Gallery, Chicago (2019), etc. Rong was also invited as a visiting tutor to provide art workshops and 1v1 tutorial for the University of Westminster Mixed Media department and also as a guest artist to hold an art event for ‘Walkative Society’ in 2022.
Stoop(Lifeguard chair)
Metal, plastic chair
45"x72"x28"
2020.10
Strike
Metal, chain, burlap fibre, red silk, cotton, sound talking button
75"x11"x11"
2020.11
