update

It's been awhile since my last blog...Unfortunately I have no had access to the internet for the last 3months. Well I have at uni, but to do my health problems, I can not sit at a computer for any lenght of time, which is why I've been able to do any more research until now. It also means I have missed a couple exhibitions that would have been useful for this. (I have only just found out about them through internet research).

This is one exhibition I would have liked to see....

Bridge, by Michael Cross

(if you click on the above it will take to you a site with a review of the exhibition)

This was a site-specific piece in a former church, where two thirds of the inside of the church was in water. Michael Cross designed a series of 30 steps which rose out of the water for you to walk across the 'lake', as if walking on water.

'Each step emerges one step in front of you and disappears back underneath behind you as you go. This ‘bridge’ is purely mechanical, the weight of the person on it depresses each step a little, this force activates a submerged mechanism which raises the next step. '

The 3oth step leaves you standing in the middle of the water, 12 meters from shore. The viewer could then apparently stand in the middle until they wished to return the way they had come. Michael Cross aim is to 'invite a feeling or physical sensation to surround what otherwise might be purely function objects'.

As far as I know Cross had no religious intention behind this piece, other than using the story of Jesus walking across the water as inspiration, but I feel it would have been a powerful spiritual expression for myself, and other christians.

Cross used black dye in the water, so as to make it seem bottomless, when in fact it was only 65cm deep..now knowing this I am a little confusing as I thought the man in the image above was walking across wearing what appeared to be a light jacket. Maybe its not, or they are just extremely scared of water, or maybe to make the illusion more complete the exhibition did not state the depth, and proved life jackets for those who wished?!