TWICE daily the moon draws up the waters of the earth so that they flood and crash on to shores all round the globe. Twice daily they flow back, leaving behind the debris of the oceans.

It's a huge spectacle involving titanic forces. Landlubbers mostly take no notice.

They soon will notice in Dumfries, for the Tide Machine is coming.

The Tide Machine is a floating platform powered by the tides. It's also a stage for performance, to be moored in tidal docks, marinas or alongside wharves. It promises to have a spectacular launch when it arrives at Kingholm Quay on the River Nith in April.

The idea partly rose out of last year's Burns 250th celebrations, when a huge withy figure of Tam O'Shanter was set alight on a floating platform on a swollen river.

Performance choreographer Alex Rigg, who had a leading hand in that, and designer/artist Mark Zygadlo are now working on a project that will, says Zygadlo, show how the tide works, why it works and will celebrate its existence.

It will be spectacular, says Jan Hogarth, Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association's environmental arts officer. It will be a first, says Jean Atkin, the association's marketing officer.

The project has brought together many bodies, groups and individuals. Rigg and Zygadlo are from Oceanallover, a company that makes designs for the arts. They have been making the Tide Machine in a workshop lent by the Crichton Carbon Centre, a Dumfries-based organisation that aims to help turn Scotland into a low-carbon society. The centre is putting together an educational programme.

Technical help and funding for performers come from Conflux, a recent addition to the Scottish arts scene.

A renowned maker, Peter Grimwood, is crafting for the Tide Machine two tide-powered orreries, mechanical devices that illustrate the positions of the planets and moons in the solar system.

The D & G Arts Association is getting local people, groups and schools involved.

"There is a large community angle," says Jean Atkin. "The idea is that the Tide Machine will be available to Dumfries and Galloway at many different levels.

"There will be a performance on the platform created by Oceanallover and then there will be space for lots of different community groups to use it for a series of events."

Oceanallover plan to bring the machine to life on April 28 with performances on the high tides at noon and midnight. Centred on gravity and its power over all things, they promise to be 'exuberant and daring.'

The Tide Machine will be in Dumfries for a week and after a possible visit to Stranraer's new marina is going on to Glasgow for the Conflux Festival in July.

Conflux was set up last year to support performers in street arts, physical theatre and circus. Based in Glasgow, it has funding from the Scottish Arts Council and the Legacy Trust until 2013, when it aims to be self-sustaining.

The festival in July will let professional Scottish showcase new performances, host shows and masterclasses from internationally acclaimed artists and companies, put on workshops for all ability levels and publicise the work of Conflux.

It will be hosted by The Arches using nearby outdoor venues. A second festival in 2012 is planned for indoor and outdoor venues across Scotland.

Zygadlo, who has extensive boatbuilding experience, says: "The Tide Machine is a mobile, tide-powered, performance art platform celebrating and interpreting the natural wonder of the earth's tides.

"It will be the focus for performance, information, community involvement, and an extraordinary visual, mechanical marvel. It will balance in the space between land and sea to reveal to us the fascinating secrets of the tides."

DENIS INCH

The Tide Machine will be at Kingholm Quay, Dumfries, from April 24 to May 2.