Wier(d) – Walking the Stour Valley

The moving, but timeless, sometimes seemingly in stasis world of water flowing over a weir and the sounds of the turbulence in the pool beneath recorded underwater using hydrophones. Hypnotic, strange, Weir(d).

 

I walked the Stour valley from it’s source just outside Newmarket, Suffolk to Manningtree, Essex, the start of the tidal section of the river. On the way I recorded sounds. I have hydrophones and became interested in the sounds of the water falling over the weirs along the route.

I made a video piece from these recordings which can be seen here. It was screened at the Curiosity Collective’s show Rewound in the Ancient House, Ipswich.

Recorded during a walk of four days from Newmarket to Manningtree, the material begins at the ‘source’ of the Stour at Kirtling Green Pumping Station and then continues at various weirs on the Stour as it makes its way to the sea. Inspired by those who make art by walking; Richard Long, Hamish Fulton and with a nod to work by Chris Watson and Bill Fontana.