(creaking sound)
My name's Eirik Johnson and I'm an artist
and I have a site specific
installation here at the Georgetown Steam Plant.
(creaking sound, water dripping)
The steam plant was built
originally on the banks of the Duwamish River,
(flowing river)
but then in the 1930s, the Duwamish was straightened
to allow for larger maritime commerce.
And in so doing, the steam plant was cut off
from the Duwamish by half a mile,
so they had to pump water back to the steam plant.
♪♪
This installation is, in a sense, reconnecting the two.
It's bringing the sound of the river,
the visuals of the river back to the steam plant
In this space
we have a
very large projection screen and it's
showing a sort of sequence of images that I made
from my kayak while I was paddling beneath
the hulls
of these transoceanic barges
that port on the Duwamish River.
So I'm literally
going into the space beneath the hulls
when the sun is very low
in the horizon and it sort of enters
into these new architectural spaces.
The Duwamish is
an amazing environment to just be present in,
but certainly to go out and make,
make work and to respond creatively.
♪♪
There's a community development authority
that has been put together to essentially
dream and
reimagine and reactivate the steam plant.
I think it's important for the city, for us
as citizens, to value that it's
this is part of our history,
but it also is an opportunity
to kind of reengage our history with performance
culture, events of this nature.