Started January 2010 [by Jack Thurgar]

This is a scrapbook dedicated to the study of London's weeds and the wild places where they grow. Wildcornerz also looks at the languages, cultures and mythologies that develop in these cracks.


What is a Wildcorner?

A Wildcorner is a term referring to a gap that has been left to grow wild in the city. The term encompasses every wild piece of land no matter the size, from large disused sports grounds to small patches of commercial wasteland, to a crack in the pavement. As long as this gap in the man made landscape harbours some kind of weed, then it is considered a Wildcorner.

Wildcorners and Wildcorridors* are dotted all over the capital and vary in content, depending on their location and history. One thing most have in common, is that they are normally restricted in someway from public access or boarded off and hidden from public view altogether. In this blog we focus particularly on the Wildcorners of south east London.

* Wildcorridor; a word used to describe a channel or pathway that runs through an urban landscape, which facilities the propagation and growth of weeds. This includes railway sidings, rivers and canals.



Urban and Suburban Weeds

By the term 'weeds' we are of course referring to the cities wild plants and flowers. But their are also two other weeds that grow in the city.

'Graf' like its botanical relation, has many families and strains. Both of these weeds can often be found together, sharing many qualities including their adaptive nature and unregulated status. Both in many cases, originally entered and populated the city using the railway network.

Another 'weed' that historically flourishes in London is invisible and uses the tops of tower blocks to propagate. Pirate radio like its weed relatives, grows away from the public eye and is constantly adapting to exploit these same gaps across the cities FM radio spectrum, fighting and flourishing in-between the commercial stations.

© Copyright of Wildcornerz. All rights reserved. For enquiries please contact: wildcornerz1@yahoo.co.uk

Tuesday 11 October 2011

Tracing the Water Cycle [a Live Ritual] - excerpt phone footage



Tracing the Water Cycle (A Live Ritual), is a live experiment in which the audience is invited to private room that will act as a periscope for exploring the outworld.
Jack Thurgar and his sophisticated map recycles a rich imaginary from different sources: re-contextualization of found footage, recordings and new fictions.
The installation will put together an impossible sequence in a form of live collage; from the open scene (sequence from the very first home-video from the artist) this intricate flow of water will travel in time and space, and while Jack Thurgar will be guiding us in the dark room, his alter-ego the explorer Solomon Wild will show us his personal recordings throughout his global wanderings.

- Lucia Rivero, 'Smashing Time Show' 2011

The ritual works as a loop. As the conductor, I channel the water through the analogue equipment, which is placed in a circle on the floor. Using a timer for precision, I turn on or 'open' each piece of equipment, connecting them to create a path for the water to form a magic circuit. As the water threads its way through the machines I orchestrate its twists and turns until it reaches its ultimate conclusion.

- Jack Thurgar, 2011

This to my knowledge, is the only existing footage of the live ritual. The whole piece lasts around 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the footage starts a few minutes in [as the plug in the bath is pulled] and misses the last five magical mins.
If anyone has other footage of this magical event, please do get in contact.
Thanks.
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