From Stan Bonnar
Image: Oriel Marshall – Nithraid 2013.
Poem Thing.
Here it is—informal, but from the heart of me.
This is what I’m thinking: we must not lose the deep meaning of Nithraid. After all, we sweated blood to get this far. We must affirm Nithraid in the flow of world art with every action. That is our responsibility to art and to people.
The main point, of course, is to show Dumfries to the wide world as a place where things are happening. But if we are to show the art world that socially engaged public art is the way to go, then we must show them that we have resolved the problem of the redundant art object.
Here it is: the cow, the cow delivery system, the Nith, the we the people, the thing of things!
What are we saying?
We are saying that this cow thing is alive and well and living in Dumfries!
It was once a linguistic object, but here and now, it is a liberated thing.
The reason it’s liberated is because we gave the art object the voice of a thing, and that thing is everything!
The Dumfries Nithraid cow is the thing of our imagining.
It is what we are and always were.
We are the Nithraid thing.
Nithraid is the liberation of the object once known as ‘cow’.
First, we cover it in salt because salt imbues and confirms the cow as a once-object standing in reserve of our existence (for our use as required).
But then, as the cow sinks into the River Nith, we, the people, sing a mooing song... moo... moo... moo...
The salt is washed away to reveal the new, precious thing in the context of things. And this act deconstructs and disrupts the limitations of our own object-centric thinking.
Nithraid was conceived as a public artwork to activate the riverside in Dumfries during the summer of 2013, bringing new focus and drawing people down to celebrate the River Nith. Now in its third year, Dumfries is preparing to welcome sailors upriver to the heart of the town as Nithraid 2015 sails into town on Sunday, 2nd August. Nithraid is free and open to all, and last year saw crowds of 4,000 lining the banks to watch the winning boats cross the finish line. Find out more about this year’s Nithraid here.
The discussion is open, and we invite contributions to our artistic conversations—whether you have been involved in Nithraid in previous years, are interested in the changing face of public art, or are curious about how a sailing race can also be an artwork, please get in touch via the comments box below. Alternatively, to send your contribution, please email [email protected].
