There Must Be Something In The Water

Faculty:

Aleksandra Dulic

Collaborators:

Jeanette Angel, Kenneth Newby, Hanss Lujan, Emily MacMillen

The rippling surface of the pond is projected onto a salt-covered floor surface, which when disturbed by footsteps or a hand gesture, causes the face of a spirit to rise from the depths of the water, at times inscrutably staring at the participant or at other times struggling under the surface of the pond. As the participant moves away from the edge of the pond, the surface returns to the subtle dynamic of the rippling pond. In this iteration of the work, the cracked earth of a desiccated landscape stretches out in all directions from the lushness of the central pond, with a single tumble weed in a far corner signifying the extreme state of transformation from the presence to the absence of water. The pond allows participants to reflect on how their gestures and actions work against their desires as they obscure the image they wanted to reveal. This suggests a potential for an embodied awareness of a larger theme of the work: human and technological presence in a natural ecosystem. The viewer is asked to not only participate in a predefined narration but also to explore and realize in time, in space and in matter, the potential of events embedded in the work. In realizing the work, the viewer is invited to experience a reciprocal interaction, and a gentle suggestion that it might bode well to take care.