Frank Watson
Utopia Lost
The Modernist project corresponded with a period of radical change and looked towards the possibility and realisation of Utopia. Like nearly all definitions of Utopia, the future is both a time and a place where our fantasies of a better tomorrow can be projected. In contrast, perhaps a more overlooked definition of utopia exists posthumously, and is often described rather romantically in terms of a ‘golden age’.
Postmodern thinking did much to kill off the idea of utopia as the modernist project came under criticism by those excluded from its narrow ideological viewpoint. So in the 21st century, with new threats to consider, all hopes of a utopian future seem to be curtailed.
Part of that hope has been superseded by fear, as the fallout of 19th and 20th century industrialisation is recognised and the repressed aspects of technological progress are confronted and the reparation of a rather damaged planet begins. A more pessimistic view acknowledges the impotence of this predicament and that we are already living in a world that resembles a 1960’s science fiction film. In the mid twentieth century this scenario was exemplified by inept attempts to colonise outer space despite the euphoria of the so called ‘space race,’ which now in turn seems to have become a race for time with global warming.
Climate change can be seen to be a harbinger of the future as predicted
so accurately in Ridley Scott’s film ‘Bladerunner’. The
film portrays a futuristic Los Angeles as bleak, abandoned and rain sodden,
a reminder of the side effects of a climatically unstable planet, where
the weather takes the form of a malicious and vengeful god. Currently London
faces the prospect of a similar apocalyptic scenario as climatic threat
becomes reality and the city will have to re-examine its flood defences
as the Thames faces rising sea levels.
The photographs in this exhibition articulate a sense of melancholy and
abandonment that resonates at present in many areas of the estuary whilst
at the same time also evoking uncanny predictions for the future of this
part of England in light of climate threat.
The images also reflect upon the estuary’s past when much of it was
marshland
and the river was a site of Roman invasion. More recently the threat of
twentieth century warfare added to the evidence of conflict in the form
of, architectural, military remains, which can still be found along the
waterfront. The estuary also played a role in the colonial endeavours of
the British Empire as the spoils found their way back to London and the
Thames became the busiest river in the world; aptly described by the writer
Joseph Conrad as ‘the highway to the empire’.
With the advent of the Thames Gateway Project, a new identity for the estuary has been formulated as an outer zone of London, remapping its expansion into a 21st century city. The Gateway Project will see the disappearance of this unique landscape as urban sprawl introduces regimented housing schemes and recreational areas that fail to acknowledge this uniqueness.
The photographic project that forms part of ‘Soundings from the Estuary’ exhibition reflects upon the estuary as a landscape at a point of stasis where its entropic position sees it consumed by the expansion of London alongside predictions of rising sea levels which would see this low lying landscape submerged by the sea. This science fictional scenario was predicted in J.G.Ballard’s novel ‘The Drowned World’. In many ways the photographs take on the idea of an extinct landscape devoid of inhabitation, reflecting a planet used up and burnt out. The images then, might be read as a warning or a prophecy or perhaps the recognition, that we already inhabit a world that in so many ways displays many of the motifs of science fiction. A golden age indeed!
More of Frank's work can be seen at: www.thehushhouse.com
