Fair Weather Forces (Water Level)

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Fair Weather Forces (Water Level), 2008. Photo: Christine Butler, courtesy of Eyebeam

A row of up to six stainless-steel posts linked by velvet ropes recalls institutional and social crowd-control situations. The attachment points for the ropes automatically slide up and down the stanchions in direct relationship to the current water level in a nearby body of water (transmitted in real time over the Internet from a custom-built sensor). The situation thus suggests that passage/admission is permitted, restrained or directed according to the changing condition of the tide, water level and waves, hinting at relationships between phenomena that might otherwise seem disparate: aspects of social sorting evoked by the barriers (admission, exclusion, approval, class distinctions); economic and political conditions such as trade, migration and tourism that affecting the region; and the vagaries of the natural environment.

http://www.germainekoh.com/fair-weather.html

Project Created: 
January 2008
 
People: Germaine Koh
Project Type: Exhibited Project, Hacking, Installation
Tags: untethered