Communal Drinking Source
Communal Drinking Source
Media: Stainless steel, plumbing fixtures, laminate, artificial turf, plywood
Size: 24” x 130” x 130”
Date: 2013
About Communal Drinking Source:
This art object simulates nature, becoming a surrogate for ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. These water sources directly hydrated populations long-past bestowing a life-line to the local community, and they continue to provide water to us today indirectly. The water’s edge was a meeting place for our ancestors, a place to nourish oneself, to bathe and to socialize. These habits can still be seen in animal populations. This Communal Drinking Source combines the experience of socializing by the water’s edge with the experience of an ordinary drinking fountain, an object that is ubiquitous in modern offices, schools, and public sites. Viewers are encouraged to interact with this hybrid object: it accommodates five participants at one time, the participation of the public completes the work. The implication that this work is a designed object - ready for mass production - magnifies the idea of a collective need or desire for such experiential objects and therefore a need or desire for contact with nature and with one another. CDS offers temporary relief from a lifestyle devoid of experiences within the natural world.
Special thanks to Jane Brown and the Charles Schillinger Company for their geneous support without which this project would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Constance Bergfors for her support of Communal Drinking Source through the Corcoran College of Art + Design’s Faculty Development grant.