Awash
September-Decmber 2006
Steel, wood, Plexiglas, water, pvc, pump
12' x 24' x 8'
Location: Collect Pond Park, New York City
Sponsored by: New York City Parks Department and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
Combining the archaic and the modern with an absurdist twist, the steel-and-Plexiglas structure provides shelter from its own inclement weather. A water tank sprays water onto a skylight incongruously mounted on a "sidewalk bridge," much like the ones that protect pedestrians at construction sites. The water runs across one roof, cascades down onto a lower roof, and into a gutter that leads to a drainpipe and back to the water tank. Inside the bridge hang several seats recalling both old-fashioned porch swings and traditional park benches, allowing up to eight people to sit and talk while rain splashes romantically on the skylight overhead.
