Watershed: A River's Call to Action

XAP artists Laura Dekker, Angela Mellen and Liz Sergeant have created new work for Watershed: A River’s Call to Action, which has developed through their on-going engagement and concern for UK rivers.

This large-scale, interactive art installation is inspired by the vitality and the vulnerability of our rivers and its purpose is to engage people with the urgent crisis facing these fragile ecosystems.

Hosted for a month in the magnificent space of St Albans cathedral, Watershed bears witness to this crisis on a very particular river, the River Ver. A microcosm of this emergency, this unique chalk stream has been exposed to almost continuous untreated sewage outflow at Markyate since November 2024 to date, causing extreme pathogen levels and ecosystem damage.

To complement the installation, we are also hosting a small programme of events to include:

Community Litter Pick | Saturday 24 May, 9.30am - c.12.30pm

A Watershed Debate: What Does the Future Hold for Our Waterways? | Wednesday 28 May, 7.30pm - 8.30pm

Family Discovery Morning | Thursday 29 May, 10am - 12pm

For more information visit https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/event/watershed-a-rivers-call-to-action