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Channel Swimwear Rules

This body of work includes 2 large-scale photographs ‘Channel Swimwear Rules’ (2012), 2 photographs ‘Sandettie Lightship’ (2012) and ‘Shipping Lane’ (2012), two films ‘Acclimatisation’ (2012) and ‘Standard Relay’ (2012), one glass neon sculpture ‘King of The Channel’ (2012) and sound pieces. The work and accompanying papers investigate the narratives, processes, rituals and apparatus of the sport of open water swimming with a focus on the ‘cult’ of channel swimming and in particular the collective interaction and identity of the channel swimmer. The work examines this sport through a direct involvement and performance within it. Documentary processes and re-enactment are fundamental methods that are engaged in the research, with Stansbie as the subject of the study in the video series ‘Acclimatisation’ (2012). The piece documents the body’s physical response to cold-water immersion and the method of acclimatising and habituation over a set period of time, a process that is core to channel swimming training. The delineation between the sportsperson and artist are attempted to be dissolved whereby the act of the swim (a channel swim as a relay in July 2012) is proposed as art in itself in reference to Alan Kaprow’s thoughts in the book ‘The Blurring of Art and Life’ (2003), where he questions the nature of art and everyday experience. The cross-disciplinary framework of the project has been discussed and written around at a number of multi-disciplinary conferences. ‘Channel Swimwear Rules’ (2012) was an exhibition and conference paper on-board the HMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, California where the body of work was exhibited in conjunction with the ‘Global Open Water Swimming Conference’ (September 2012). The audience for the exhibition consisted of world renowned athletes and sports people.