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Boat Race

Keith Wilson 2010

Not a sculpture celebrating the artistic worth of Cockney rhyming slang, but instead a metallic model of a section of the River Thames, where the contest in question takes place. Located just across from Kees Bierman's 'The Sound Of Running Water' (which makes a cameo in the picture above), it follows the bends of the capital's waterway exactly, so much so that someone spinning in circles on the Go Ape course above could probably film a decent tribute to the Eastenders opening sequence. The intention behind the piece was deeper than this however, as Keith Wilson explains:

"It follows the course of the River Thames Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race, as well as taking the psychological calming of the narrow tracks used in abattoirs. When cattle get processed for any form of veterinary treatment and up to and including death, you find there is a calming process by the funneling, which tends to curve, cattle would rear up if it were a line. It is also common now for them to have blue on the interior, a calming colour. 'Boat Race' is a section of river represented and made real, a route across London and a generic route. In a short space of time you're handled, you get lost and you right yourself. The piece encompasses farming language, natural representation and yourself as a physical body."

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