River Monument (Glomus) 2015
sound composition by Kevin Drumm
driftwood, geodesic sphere, garbage, steel post, audio, solar system
Connect/Disconnect: Public Art Louisville, Louisville, KY
Driftwood, along with man-made floating detritus, is ever present in all rivers, but with the engineering of Louisville’s Portland Canal there is a great propensity for it to collect around the adjacent dam. This salvaged material became the key element for a temporary public work on the Louisville shore.
Disparate and mysterious, driftwood floats at random until captured along the shore or becoming enmeshed in a collection of its own kind, sometimes traveling as a rogue island. Fluid dynamics and complexity are made manifest in determining the second life of this material. The river’s action on these water-born wanderers creates uniformity but also accentuates their biomorphic character. This agglomeration of driftwood and manufactured debris is a land-based symbol of the river as an unpredictable and powerful force.
SIMPARCH thanks Rick Wolhoy, Endres Studio, and Sunrise Domes for assistance on this project.
Glomus sound sample