Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Very cool installation art peice



I Think I've mentioned the "Jesus Prank" I assisted in pulling in college, where we used a low raft to float a guy who looked like Jesus out into the middle of the lake during the campus treelighting ceremony.

I'm reminded of it tonight as I read about something a bit similar in concept, but much cooler.

An artist named Michael Gross has out together an installation peice where one actually walks on the water. From the installation's website:

Bridge is a spectacular new site-specific design commission for Dilston Grove by Michael Cross. Housed in a former church, (one of the earliest examples of poured concrete construction and a Grade II listed building), the piece comprises submerging two thirds of the inside of the church in water, and producing a series of steps which rise out of the apparently empty man-made ‘lake’ as you walk across them. Each step emerges one step in front of you and disappears back underneath behind you as you go. This ‘bridge’ is purely mechanical, the weight of the person on it depresses each step a little, this force activates a submerged mechanism which raises the next step.

The public are invited to walk out on it as if walking on water, eventually reaching the middle of the lake, thirty steps and twelve meters from the shore. There they will stand alone and detached, stranded in the middle of a plane of water until they choose to return the way they came. For some people this experience of being cut off and surrounded by water will be peaceful, for others terrifying. For some walking across the water will be pure childish joy, whilst others will be too scared to try.


I actually think that could be a pretty incredible meditative experience.

CC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I want to try this thing!