Uriel Orlow’s (b. 1973, Zurich) thought provoking art works use film in conjunction with objects, images and performance to explore how places are haunted by past histories of conflict, territory and nationality. His film, The Mussels’ Perspective, uses his research of the local area to explore the history of mining in the Tamar Valley and its continued legacy on its people and its landscape. Taking us deep below the surface of the Tamar Valley, Orlow’s camera follows the river, and the mineral effluent that flows with it, in a reverse journey from the sea back to its source in the deep caves and mines below. Encompassing the chemistry labs of Plymouth University and River Tamar’s landscape, we are exposed to a bubbling test tube of mussels adapted by scientific research juxtaposed with lyrical images of the Tamar’s banks, revealing the chalky blue substances which ring the paths of its tributaries.

Royal William Yard Opened in 1835, occupying 16 acres of purpose-designed buildings at Devil’s Point, where the River Tamar meets Plymouth Sound, this was the main victualling yard for the Royal Navy for more than 150 years, until its closure in 1992. In recent times, in what is the largest collection of Grade 1-listed former military buildings in Europe, has been redeveloped by Urban Splash.