Realty

An intervention created by Cotterrell for installation in a Winchester waterway, but later re-located outside Tate Modern as part of the Thames Festival, Realty is produced as an easy to assemble flat-pack, which can be quickly transported and erected at desired locations with a minimum of disturbance. Recalling 'Reclaim the Streets', whose covert but highly organised actions transform urban centres into protest-based street parties, Realty is an uninvited installation seeking a response. Its temporal nature, the fact that it can be moved around in the back of the artist's car and erected in less than 10 minutes, suggests a multiplicity of sites, and onlookers are invited to consider their own choice of location. For both installations, Cotterrell placed ads in local papers and worked with local estate agents to promote bidding for a 'Desirable bijou property boasting 360 water views', exposing the absurdity of assertions of ownership over the natural world. The General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) has ensured the recognition of the legality of the commodification and marketing of water around the world. The US Supreme Court recognises water as an article of commerce; the European Court acknowledges it as a 'good'. Cotterrell first conceived Realty after an extended trip to Canada. His experience of this autonomous nation, which claims 20% of the world's fresh water resources, but only 0.5% of the global population, and is bound by its NAFTA compact with the US to selling water rights, gave Cotterrell the impetus for his anarchic piece of protest art.