WAVE HARMONICS 2013

Public Safety Building Front Plaza, Salt Lake City , Utah

THE CHALLENGE

This artwork is a response to a stipulation for a water feature in a semi-arid to arid area. More puzzlingly, the host site is a LEED Platinum certified facility, located in a climate region that requires hydraulic components of any water features to be taken indoors for wintering, to avoid freeze damage.

THE SOLUTION

All is well, with the solution of an intimate water feature that only consumes a minuscule amount of water from a single drip-emitter, diverted from the plaza’s drip-irrigation system.

The artwork invites the pubic to a contemplative ‘feet-on’ engagement via a floor pedal. Individual’s stepping style generates corresponding modal harmonics of water patterns

ALL IS WELL THAT ENDS TRAGICALLY

Right after the artist’s design was unanimously accepted by the panel, the mayor’s representative casually mentioned that a round-the-clock pump system had to be put in to divert a subterranean thermal spring away from the foundation into city drainage. This, gold underfoot a prospector, right there for a fabulous water feature with no wintering or water consumption. The artist request for a small redesign to tap into it was met with no desire for a change order on the utility plan. A triumphantly solved non problem, with a heartbreak over the once in lifetime opportunity of a most serendipitous site-specific work, remain buried.