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Liverpool becoming: The Writing on the Wall by David Haley


The Series of Works

The first work of the series, The Destiny of Species: The Writing on the Wall (2007) was commissioned for the Halle Fur Kunst exhibition ‘everything will be fine’ (catalogue ISBN 3-935786-42-5), to complement my keynote lecture, The Limits of Sustainability: The Art of Ecology
[see 5.6] and performance, Sometimes making art can be difficult [see 7.3], for the New Frontiers in Arts Sociology: Creativity, Support andSustainability, 4th Interim Conference of the ESA Research Network Sociology for the Arts Luneburg and Hamburg.

Having funded this work, The British Council commissioned me to create, „We Are The Future / We Create: The Writing On The Wall“ (2007) and make a keynote address for the opening of their NorthSouthEastWest exhibition at the University of Stuttgart.  The Research Institute for Health & Social Change (MMU) commissioned me to create „In A Present Of Freedom: The Writing On The Wall“, for their 2007 Annual Conference. Tamshui Museum and Bamboo Culture International, Taiwan, commissioned „Tides Turn Waters Dance: The Writing On The Wall“, for my artist in
residency in December 2007.

Gaia Projects then commissioned me to create two more in the series, for the Biennial Independents programme – 2008 Liverpool European Capital of Culture – Liverpool Becoming: The Writing On The Wall at Gaia Cabinet, Albert Dock and The Pool of Life: The Writing On The Wall at The National Wildflower Centre, Knowsely.

Context

With notable exceptions, the climate change discourse is largely science led. Some scientists (Meadows et al 1995, Lovelock 2005, Diamond 2005), argue that global warming has passed the ‘tipping point’ and society should prepare for collapse, as a form of ‘ecological resilience’ (Walker 2006).

Addressing these issues, this series of ecological artworks initially alluded to Rembrandt’s painting of ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’ (1635), that depicts the moment of the ‘writing on the wall’ in the Book of Daniel. The prophetic phenomenon that foresaw the demise of the King, the split and fall of Babylon was interpreted by Daniel alone.  This commonly used phrase generated the primary metaphor to consider the end of the Holocene epoch, society’s ineptitude and evolutionary perturbation caused by climate change.  Further allusions within the texts refer to the specific place (i.e. ‘The Pool of Life’, coins Jung’s phrase about Liverpool), or reference iconic literary images (i.e. Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’,1859, takes on contemporary significance as ‘The Destiny of Species’ and The Book of Ecclesiastes provides a salutary note regarding ‘vanity’ and ‘time’.

The form of this poetic/visual/performative artwork offered means of communication normally unavailable to science and in so doing challenged the ‘ring-fencing’ of particular topics (intentionally or unintentionally) by certain disciplines.  It, also permitted brevity and a ‘broad-brush’ approach to be established with greater immediacy and passion than would normally be afforded to scientists, engineers or politicians.  Considering issues of Global Warming, Climate Change and environmental crises from this different perspective also promoted extra layers of understanding.  The process of producing each work meant that each one generated both reflexive and reflected comments from the audiences.

The Process

Despite the similarity in form, each artwork was very different ontologically, in that they fulfilled different commissions or assignments in different countries and appeared on different surfaces.

The first was an invitation to contribute to a mixed show of international artists making work broadly on the theme of Sustainability.  It allowed me to bring together the ideas of The Writing On The Wall and The Destiny of Species that I had been playing with since 2004 in my sketchbook and trying to apply to different situations – The Destiny of Species started as scenario for a play about Darwin, Ruskin, Turner and Tyndall meeting for dinner in 1850 to discuss what things might be like in the 21st Century. The poem finally used ‘vox pops’ from my commuting train journeys, Radio 4 news items, poetic summations of incidents I had experienced and scientific literature on environmental crises.

The second, We Are The Future We Create, was conceived as fragments from my academic texts that resonated poetically and somehow, because they generated a powerful image or chimed poetically, deserved to be selected. There was much final editing and reworking to produce the
whole poem to maintain meaning and continuity throughout. And I was aware, as with the first poem, that this was being taken to a predominantly German speaking audience, so I kept colloquial
expressions to a minimum. In a Present of Freedom, used word-images and concepts I had used in
my essay for the book Well-being: individual, community, and social perspectives (Haley 2007). These started with a line that I used as the title, taken from La Pasionaria, written on a panel at Manchester Town Hall that had been sent from the people of Barcelona in thanks for Manchester’s support of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, 1938.  The poem developed the analogy fighting and dying for freedom with present struggles around Climate Change issues.

I had previously visited the seaside town of Tamshui and talked at length with local people about the impending problems of sea level rise, so the writing of Tide Turns, Waters Dance really was the
continuum of a dialogue. I had also taken the trouble to research into the locally meaningful deities.  Mazu, goddess of the sea, protector of fishermen and seer of storms and the future was most appropriate to the issues in hand and generally very popular. Likewise, Qu Yuen, the poet who committed suicide because he had been discredited by infamous politicians for telling the truth was very appropriate. Although his demise was very sad, it gave rise to the Dragon Boat Festival that is
celebrated in South West China, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and other parts of South East Asia. Other elements in the poem, like the egret eating a fish were derived from observation during the three-week artist in residency.

The two Liverpool poems started with the reaction I and others had to the massive development of the ‘L1’ shopping mall being the most overpowering legacy of 2008 European Capital of Culture.  The irony that such a celebration of consumerism should find its expression as the World financial markets crashed heightened the impact of the imagery. The fact that this edifice was developed close to the banks of the Mersey Estuary poses real questions about ‘long-term investment’ in
the context of Climate Change. Carl Jung’s dream about Liverpool being ‘the pool of life’ connects the two poems. They, also, both pay tribute to the work and life of Professor Tony Bradshaw, a brilliant ecologist who I was lucky enough to converse with on a few occasions and who did
much work in Liverpool. Just before his death in 2008, he was the first person to be awarded Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

Liverpool Becoming: The Writing On The Wall

The proposal for this work read as follows:

‘Liverpool Becoming: The Writing On The Wall, is a temporary poetic/performance/artwork and will be the fifth in the series of such works by ecological artist and Senior Research Fellow, David Haley.


This work was be dedicated to the memory and legacy of Professor Tony Bradshaw (1926-2008), a true scientist and creative ecologist. Dependant on the wall selected, the artwork will be rendered in
charcoal directly onto the wall surface and will take the form of an extended ‘haiku’ style poem, of nine lines. The process of writing represents a simple performative act, within the convention of ‘… all in a day’s work’ and concludes with the artist reading the poem aloud. The writing will last as long as the elements or exhibition permit.’

The work was originally devised for a wall on the main steps to Lime Street Station, but protracted negotiations with the Station Master and Regional Head of P.R. at Network Rail came to an end when it was revealed that ‘… the whole of the station is a heritage site and any tampering with it will require planning permission and that would take, at least, three months and may not even be granted.’ All of Albert Dock is subject to the same heritage site regulations.

The work was finally executed in an empty shop at Albert Dock that had been loaned to Gaia Projects for their Gaia Cabinet Exhibition. Here too, the work had to be written on a temporary, ‘stud’ wall as the interior structural walls (made of breeze blocks’) were also ‘listed’ and were not to be used without written permission.



LIVERPOOL BECOMING

landscape to seascape
and as Jung’s dream comes to pass
aquatic vortex

a fanfare of cranes
shopping in Paradise
sunsets, oceans rise

assured of nothing
vanity developments
extraction of wealth


plume flushing decay
wallowing in toxic debt
mussels fed on crap

living with the sea
on the streets and in our homes
cormorants or shags?

singing of the songs
laugh the jokes and play the game
crying of the loss


brick rubble and lime
wildflowers bloom on wasteland
transformation

see beyond collapse
dreaming of cultures to come
stilts, platforms, pontoons

Pennine migration
becoming of Liverpool
the many futures



The Pool of Life: The Writing On The Wall

The information leaflet for this work read as follows:

‘The Pool of Life: The Writing On The Wall #6, is a temporary poetic/performance/artwork and is the sixth in the series of such works by ecological artist and Senior Research Fellow, David Haley. It was commissioned by Gaia Project for their Urban Ecology programme of art, contributing to the Independents, Liverpool Biennial 08.  The wall was kindly made available by Landlife, National Wildflower Centre, Court Hey Park, Liverpool.

The artwork has been rendered in charcoal directly onto the wall surface and is written in the form of an extended ‘haiku’ style poem, of twenty-seven lines. The process of writing represents a simple
performative act and the writing itself will last as long as the elements permit. This work resonates with Liverpool Becoming: The Writing on the Wall #5 at Gaia Cabinet, 17 The Colonnades, Albert Dock (to 30,11,08).’




THE POOL OF LIFE

capital of dreams
stars parachute from the skies
dreams of capital

retail spectacle
when it comes down to the crunch
there is no credit

balancing the books
the mercy of market forces
screwed over by guilt
___

Towers of Babel
insanity sanitised
feel good fantasy

tick-boxes and clowns
juggling with razor blades
candyfloss promise

museum city
the vanity of culture
heritage freezes
___

the gift of flowers
creative conservation
freshwater basin

return to wildness
tides mingle with the Mersey
culture slips away

sunset spectacle
the pool of life becoming
celebrate the dawn




A Summary of The Writing On the Wall

The Writing on the Wall was a series of poems that audiences could read and reflect upon (first reading). Then I physically wrote each poem on a wall (window on one occasion), in charcoal, as an oblique performance (second reading), responding to passers by, if they engaged me. Finally, I performed the poems aloud (third reading). This strategy evolved through the logistics and processes of devising these works (six to date) and the feedback generated by different audiences
who read, watched and listened to the works.

The physical process of writing on the wall (performance), made ‘the artist’ more accessible and at times quite vulnerable, depending on weather conditions, thus enabling the public to approach ‘the artist’ to discuss different aspects of the work’s content and execution. Unlike, Belshazzar’s Feast the process of the written word was revealed, but like the story from Daniel, it was still necessary to
interpret the texts, presenting the artist as creator, performer and interpreter of the work. So, the three readings mentioned above that engaged visual, aural and physical senses supported the delivery of the content.

The five different walls and one window provided very different experiences, some offered freely, others highly contested, all enriching the inquisitive nature of the works and revealing initial
insights to the culture of place. This is exemplified by different attitudes to heritage – on-going enrichment or preserved commodity.

The surfaces, also, informed or dictated the visual aesthetic. From the pristine interior emulsion of a white box gallery, bustling corridor and rented shop, to grime of atrium glass. And then the weathered exterior rough cast cement surfaces offering greater scope for ‘drawing’. Indeed, at first glance the courtyard walls in Taiwan looked similar to Chinese landscape paintings, the cracks, stains and repairs representing mountainous vistas, clouds, lakes and rivers. Returning eight moths later to the courtyard, the landscapes seemed to have absorbed the texts.

The temporary nature of these works, particularly those written on outside walls further permitted the work to perform itself out of existence, evoking a heightened aesthetic experience for Taiwanese
audiences, bewilderment for Germans, and provoking admonishment from some in Liverpool – ‘… how can you do all that work, all that beautiful writing and then let it just get washed off by the rain? Why don’t you varnish it, make it permanent?’

As a low key, inexpensive, low environmental impact form of creative intervention The Writing on the Wall series of art works were very effective. The inner relationships between form(s), materials and processes came together to carry an essentially ecological set of messages, thereby enhancing the continuity of the artwork acting as a ‘system’. The works were never intended as actually ecological restoration, but more as cultural interventions to critique and perhaps offer opportunities in response to Global Warming, Climate Change and environmental crises. The fact that five commissions were fulfilled within eighteen months, at times attracting relatively large audiences,
demonstrates that this strategy gained some success. How much this strategy actually contributed to shifting the thinking of those who with engaged it and if it ever reached beyond them, only time will tell. At each event, they certainly acted as a catalyst for focusing attention on the issues in question and contributed to the on-going dialogue.


David Haley

Senior Research Fellow
Director, Ecology In Practice [EIP]
MA Art As Environment Programme Leader

MIRIAD
Manchester Metropolitan University
G10 Righton Building, Cavendish Street,
Manchester M15 6 BG

T: +44 (0)161 247 1093
F: +44 (0)161 2476870
M: 07725 405 365
W: www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk/profile/dhaley
W: www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk/artandecology

 

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