fæthm: explorations in co-curation with the River Dôn 13-16 March 2025

fæthm: explorations in co-curation with the River Dôn
Upper Gallery at Kelham Island Museum and The River Dôn
Thursday 13th – Sunday 16th March 2025
Free entry
Opening times | Thurs: 10-4 | Fri: 10-4 | Sat: 10-4 | Sun: 11-4 |
Our entanglement with the more-than-human deepens as we iteratively explore co-curation with the River Dôn. In a partnership between Sheffield Hallam University and The River Dôn Project, Amy Carter Gordon presents a series of premieres from artist-researchers and partners to exhibit a data-driven public art installation in the river, a slow radio experience, experimental images, visual essaying, a live water quality lab and an interactive interface. Together, through exchanges in knowledge, research and innovation we fæthm the unquantifiable depths of the Dôn with the rights of nature as our praxis.
fæthm: (Old English) ‘something which embraces’, ‘outstretched arms’. A unit of length to measure the depth of water. To understand after much thought.
Artist-researchers: Prof. David Cotterrell, Joanne Lee, Joanna Rucklidge, Dr. Rose Butler
Contributors: Wild Medicine podcast, Civicast (National Civic Impact Accelerator), Opus Independents, Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre
Curator and producer: Amy Carter Gordon
Creative producer: Lauren McConnell
Visitor information, including how to get to Kelham Island Museum and accessibility information can be found here.
We want our events to be as inclusive as possible. If you have any accessibility concerns, please contact us.
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Artworks:
Wherever the river may take us / wherever it wants us to go
By Joanne Lee

© Stoneflies: Joanne Lee
A work developed through the repeated visual and temporal essaying of the River Dôn and its tributaries, which considers slow cyclical processes and sudden periods of transition.
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Drink It In
By Joanna Rucklidge

© Drink It In: Joanna Rucklidge
A series of experimental images inspired by visiting a short stretch of the River Dôn. The prints and drawings represent the juxtaposition of indiscernible riverfly larvae within the water and the abundant littered plastic on the riverbank.
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BIDE
By Prof. David Cotterrell

© David Cotterrell 2024
Witness the slow melodrama of a boat in distress at the Kelham Island weir. BIDE, based on the traditional Yorkshire Coble, is a public artwork presented as a boat – a delicate indicator of abstracted vulnerability.
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Ground Truths
By Rose Butler

© Butler, R (2025)
A series of large-scale photographs alongside 16mm experimental film capture traces of silt, fig leaves, hemlock, and remnants of a NYE rave along the river’s edge, while phenols from the fig leaves create images of themselves.
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Activities:
Water Quality Live Lab
Workshop facilitators: Assoc Prof. Melissa Lacey & Ruth Franklin, Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre
Dates: Friday 14 (PM), Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 March
Experience hands-on water quality research and learn about the state of our rivers. Explore microbiology and chemistry by testing water from all five of Sheffield’s rivers to tackle river pollution challenges.
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River Dôn Project – Engagement Platform
Facilitated by Opus Independents
The Engagement Platform is an interactive, digital interface, designed to help us better understand our relationship with nature. The beginning of our journey into surfacing, visualising and sensing the interwoven and interdependent ecosystems that make up the water catchments we are all a part of.
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Wild Medicine x Civicast River Dôn special edition podcast
Creators: Sophie Toes and AliMakavelli in partnership with the National Civic Impact Accelerator and The River Dôn Project, featuring Sheffield Hallam artist-researchers and guests.
Wild Medicine ‘slow radio’ podcast is a sonically-soothing ambient experience to encourage a sense of connectedness to the River Dôn through spoken word, field recordings and organic textures for mental wellbeing.
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Further programme updates coming soon…
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