The Wet Web
Helen Gazeley lifts the lid on a host of events and celebrations planned for this year.
LAST year the Government proposed that 2022 be a year of celebrations, what with the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
And forming a trio with these two events is Unboxed, presenting, in the words of Martin Green, its chief creative officer: “An unprecedented and timely opportunity for people to come together across the UK and beyond and take part in awe-inspiring projects that speak to who we are and explore the ideas that will define our futures.”
Unboxed centres around 10 different projects, chosen from 299 that were submitted in 2020. Funded by the four governments of the UK, events are completely free and touring the country until October.
On the waterways, Hull sees About Us run from April 30 to May 6. This offers a live outdoor media display using video projections and music to look at our interconnectedness from the Big Bang onwards (aboutus. earth/hull).
Later in the month, Leicester and Newcastle will be visited by the travelling festival Tour de Moon, offering performances, installations, experiments and experiences, inspired by seeing the moon as a character and a landscape (tourdemoon.com).
In July, Our Place in Space visits Cambridge. This scale recreation of our solar system is being imagined as a 10km sculpture trail, which starts on Midsomer Common, heads along the Cam towpath and ends in Waterbeach. It’s accompanied by free digital events and learning activities (our place in space. earth ).
Victoria Square, Birmingham, will be home to a city-centre forest garden in September. A celebration of the diversity of nature in our green spaces, it includes music, tours, light shows and design workshops. Hundreds of plants grown from seed by local schoolchildren and communities will be planted under the giant architectural trees, to act as a venue for a Spoken Word weekend ( September 10- 11) and culminating in a festival that combines Carnival and Holi.
All the various projects have an itinerary around the country, which can be found at unboxed2022.uk, while Storytrails is popping up in 15 towns and cities, including Sheffield, Lincoln, Wolverhampton, Bristol, and Lambeth in London. It offers a virtual historical experience, in collaboration with the BBC and British Film Institute, immersing participants in local stories through augmented reality.
Meanwhile, perhaps more down to earth and mysteriously missed from the Government’s list, is the 200th anniversary of the Chichester Ship Canal, formally opened on April 9, 1822. The big celebration takes place on Saturday, April 9, opening with a bang as the Fort Cumberland Guard (https://nickmott.wixsite. com/ fort cumberland guard) fires a salute. There’ll be live music, food stalls, children’s activities, vintage tugs, model boats and a chance to mingle with the Victorian Strollers (www.victorianstrollers.co.uk). The festival culminates in a flotilla due to arrive in the canal basin at 3pm.
Further events include Comedy on the Canal (stand-up on a narrowboat, fortified with fish and chips) and a poetry and music evening as part of the Chichester Fringe festival. If you can’t visit any of these, an exhibition on the canal’s history and purpose is running at the Novium Museum till April 2023.
There’s also the chance to enter a free amateur photography competition that welcomes images of the canal and its environment. Winners will be displayed at the Heritage Centre at the canal basin, appear on merchandise, and receive one of a range of prizes.