Dogs Versus Shadows

*2026 stock* A sonic investigation of the history and decline of Nottingham's River Trent in two acts. In 1938 when the River Trent was being dredged by the Trent Navigation Company, workers encountered obstructions in the form of wooden stakes driven into the riverbed. Following an investigation by archaeologists it was concluded that the site was part of a Bronze Age ‘pile settlement’ formed of houses on stilts 3000 years ago. Now dislodged and disturbed the remains of this settlement began bubbling to the surface, changing the landscape around it.

Ghost Artery by dogs versus shadows scores this swirl of history with the contemporary realities of the highly polluted River Trent. He explains "the work is a sonic exploration of the once thriving River Trent’s decline, imagined as ghosts poisoning the arterial waterway - causing the link between people and place to deteriorate." The River Trent catchment was hit by over 30,000 sewage spills in 2022 leading to a dramatic decline to aquatic life, and at times rendering swimming a danger to human health.

As dogs versus shadows notes: "To the casual observer, the river is always as it was. Beneath the surface however, the ghosts are awake…" In this complex work comprised of field recordings, tape loops, dying vocals from broken dictaphones and snatches of shortwave radio, Ghost Artery tunes us into the ghoulish realities awash within our rivers and the multiple ways these weaken our connections to each other, and the past.