A GOVAN Armada will be taking over the River Clyde this weekend as part of a major public art event.

Events will be held to link up both sides of the river and get communities involved in their heritage.

Govan will be bombed with messages delivered by two medieval siege catapults, or trebuchets.

St Kilda mail boats and a soundscape of sea shanties will also be some of the attractions at Saturday's event.

Even extracts from Upper Clyde Shipbuilder's hero Jimmy Reid's speeches will be broadcast across the water.

It is being led by community artists Matt Baker and Tara Beall as part of the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art 2012 Nothing About Us Without Us Is For Us.

Last week artists including Turner Prize-winning Richard Wright and Jeremy Deller, erected a inflatable model of Stonehenge on Glasgow Green as part of the contemporary art festival.

This year's theme is a two-way dialogue of friendly fire across the Clyde, which deploys obsolete technology and even flotsam and jetsam to build a bridge of communication across the river.

It's the culmination of six weeks of collaboration between Baker and Beall with artists, local groups, and cultural organisations from both sides of the Clyde.

Workshops will culminate in a community celebration day when all the different forms of communication will be put into play in an attempt to convey messages across the river.

Artist Matt said: "We are excited and honoured to be working with so many wonderful individuals and organisations.

"By using layers of Govan's rich ancient history and contemporary culture, this experimental event aims to bring people to the Clyde, as well giving them fresh opportunities to understand and appreciate this amazing asset in our city."

Ian Pattison, the creator of Govan's most famous fictional son Rab C Nesbitt, said it was great to see local Govan people reclaiming the river in an imaginative way.

He said: "As kids we would travel on the two ferries, the passenger ferry at the foot of McKechnie Street and the traffic ferry at Water Row, over the 'ocean' to exotic Partick.

"Back then, the river seemed as busy as Sauchiehall Street."

deborah.anderson@ eveningtimes.co.uk

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