Current Projects
Water and a historic neighborhood bridge are the themes for several in-progress or recently completed temporary public art projects commissioned by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Tap into Water Calling—featuring artists and filmmakers creating a series of temporary works and short films about water. And Fremont Bridge artist-in-residence Kristen Ramirez completed her residency in one of the bridge towers and created Bridge Talks Back, a temporary sound installation.
Seattle artist Kristen Ramirez wrapped up her summer artist residency at the Fremont Bridge with a temporary art project celebrating the rhythms and sounds of the bridge. Bridge Talks Back, a sound artwork, will remain at the bridge through April 2010.
During her residency in the northeast tower of the bridge, Ramirez observed happenings on and around the bridge, sketched what she saw, and interviewed neighborhood residents. Ramirez found that Seattleites love, loathe, revere and memorialize the Fremont Bridge. Her audio installation gives the bridge a chance to "talk back" to Seattle during each bridge opening. With her artwork, Ramirez seeks to elevate the mundane, and sometimes irritating, experience of waiting for the bridge with sound, history and personal narratives.
Hear the Bridge Talk Back
Pedestrians, bicyclists, boaters and motorists can hear a short version of Ramirez's sound collage through speakers on the bridge when it opens during daytime hours. Alternately, a longer version featuring Seattle residents' personal bridge stories can be heard 24 hours a day by calling 1-800-761-9941.
Listen to an extended interview with the artist on KPLU. Or, visit Ramirez's Bridge Report blog for more information and links to other news stories about the project.
Bridge Talks Back was commissioned with Seattle Department of Transportation 1% for Art funds.
Information: Patricia Hopper, (206) 684-7311.
Three artists and five filmmakers explored water—examining its flow and its history, offering ways to care for our urban watersheds and celebrating water's mythical power. The projects took place at various locations throughout the city. The Water Calling projects were commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) 1% for Art funds.
Mater Matrix Mother and Medium
Mandy GreerIn April, Seattle fiber artist Mandy Greer began inviting people to participate in a string of crocheting circles at libraries, neighborhood festivals and parks. The result—a 200-foot "fiber river" of blue yarn and recycled fabric that flowed through the trees near Camp Long's Polliwog Pond in West Seattle through late August. Titled Mater Matrix Mother and Medium, the project also included a magical July 16 performance produced by Greer in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Zoe Scofield and composer Morgan Henderson. Read more about the project on Greer's blog or in this Seattle Times article.
Information: Patricia Hopper, (206) 684-7311.
Mantle
John GradeAt the end of September, artist John Grade completed a large sculpture only to watch it dissolve. The sculpture—which evokes the image of a water tower—will gradually take shape over the course of several weeks at the Bitter Lake Reservoir, near the intersection of North 138th Street and Linden Avenue North. The artwork's wooden frames rise to cradle a spherical cloud-like form. Created with a corn-based polymer, the "cloud" will gradually biodegrade when exposed to rain and ultimately disappear. Over the course of about six months, viewers will see the temporary installation evolve and change, offering a means of framing and examining the role water plays in our urban lives. Mantle will be on view through January 2010.
Information: Jason Huff, (206) 684-7278.
Waterlines
Stokley TowlesIn July, people packed an office trailer at Volunteer Park to see a one-man performance about water by Seattle artist Stokley Towles. "It's part performance art, part exhibition about Seattle's water system and the pipes and policies that deliver it to your tap," explained Danny Westneat in a recent Seattle Times column.
Information: Jason Huff, (206) 684-7278.
Five filmmakers tap into the flow of water and invite viewers to reflect on the preservation of our water resources—from drinking water through drainage. The short films vary in length and format—from a fairy-tale approach to sci-fi-like images to stop animation to a portrayal of water as a healing force. The Office hosted free film screening in July and August.
Information: Jason Huff, (206) 684-7278.
A Water Tale
SJ ChiroTold in a fairy-tale style format, Chiro's film follows a young girl who is transported to an underwater kingdom, where the "Kingfish" informs the girl of the impact of pollution—caused by increased storms and storm water runoff—on the sea.
Waterway
Britta JohnsonThis stop-animation film follows large drops of water as they travel through rocks, ferns, plant roots, microbes and other creatures that naturally filter and clean water.
Water Lab
Susan RobbInvestigating the interface that tap water creates with nature and our homes, Robb's video explores SPU's interventions through abstracted aerial shots captured in the Cascades and inter-spliced with quick cuts of sci-fi-like images of a "water laboratory."
Space, the air, the river, the leaf
Luke SieczekComposed of four parts or movements, Sieczek's film marks the passage of water from sky to soil to stream to waterway. Along this path we see the various small and local efforts designed to transform the flow to a controlled, clean and filtered state.
Displaced
Rick StevensonThe importance of water as a healing, symbolic, life-giving and redemptive force in our lives is at the center of this story of two foster children in search of family who, despite the odds, find each other as brothers.
The Water Calling projects reflect SPU's management of the complete cycle of hydrology for Seattle's water resources from drinking water through drainage, and Restore Our Waters, the city's initiative to protect and restore Seattle's urban waterways.
