Location (see map): Edition 1: River Thames, Vauxhall, London; Edition 2: Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, MIAC, Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Tidal sculpture: 0-8m
Installation Date: 2015
The Rising Tide depicts a series of working horses with riders situated on the banks of the River Thames in Central London. It was positioned within sight of the Houses of Parliament as part of the 2015 Totally Thames Festival.
The tidal works are loosely based on the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are revealed and partially concealed by the daily ebb and flow of the river. Unlike many of Jason deCaires Taylor’s works, these were mainly viewable from land, either from the foreshore or elevated from Albert Embankment.
The horses’ heads have been replaced by an oil well pump. The suited figures illustrate an attitude of denial or ambivalence towards our current climate crisis whereas the young riders represent hope in effecting future change.
The sculptures symbolise our desire to control natural forces, but their position in a vast body of moving water highlights our inherent fragility. It is intended to provide a disturbing metaphor for rising sea levels, demonstrating how little time we have to act, yet crucially it offers hope as it resets itself each day, offering us the opportunity for change.
A second edition was later created for The Museo Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, MIAC, Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
To view The Rising Tide during the Totally Thames Festival, click here.
Other previous projects located the UK include: Plasticide, Alluvia, Inverted Solitude, and the Chelsea Barracks Sculpture Trail.
Commissioned by: Totally Thames and Lumina Prime8
Materials: Stainless steel, pH neutral cement, basalt and aggregates
To see more images of Jason deCaires Taylor’s Rising Tide visit the full gallery.
The Rising Tide was located within sight of the Houses of Parliament. I think we really have to start holding people accountable for what they are doing. And that needs to be documented in stone rather than in a few words in a newspaper column that disappears. There are a lot of people whose actions need to be immortalised.
Jason deCaires Taylor
