1997-2000

A six square mile watershed

This was the first of two artist led research projects that focused upon the values that shape the human relationship to a large scale post-industrial landscape ecosystem. Working over a period of three years, theories about aesthetics, ecological recovery, and radical approaches to art, planning, and design were developed and tested through art practice. Three artists and an attorney worked with scientists, citizens and the City of Pittsburgh to agree a concept development plan for the eco-aesthetic recovery of small river valley, and an extension of a public park.

For more information, please see the Nine Mile Run Project Website

A collaborative work with Tim Collins for a group Exhibition -
Natural Realities, Ludwig Forum,
Aachen, Germany,
1998

From a historical, but above all from an ecological point of view, water is a special factor of Aachen. This is a fact of which only few people are aware. A historic map of Aachen, revealing two streams (in blue color), the Paubach and the Johannisbach now buried beneath the streets of the city. With “Watermark”, Tim and I take up this gap and deal with the altered relation of nature and culture in urban space, especially the shift of significant that water has gone through in the course of time. Our concerns are aimed at sensitizing the citizens for the subterranean rivers of Aachen.

In 1997 Curator Heike Strelow asked Collins and Goto to explore the historic city of Aachen Germany for he potential of creating a temporary public artwork. The project was developed over three years, working with experts at the university and in Aachen City Planning

In the town center, lines(1.7 km) made of gold leaf mark the courses of the rivers Pau and Johannisbach, both of which supplied drinking water in former times. Today they are canalized and covered, no longer visible or present. In another place, willow saplings surround three fountains, Golden-Frau, Baukha, and Fischpuddelchen, referring to the underground water courses. The willow, being a native plant of river regions, is opposed by a cultural artifact -a fountain- in the urban landscape. The project searches for and needs dialogue. The place of the discourse was in the museum. Laymen, scientists, artists, ecologists, town planners and geologist, and commissioners for the environment are requested to sit together, in the true sense of the world.

Why Giant Sea Bass?

When I first arrived in Manhattan Beach, Cultural Arts Manager Howard Spector loaned each of the artists a book called Manhattan Beach 90266, a pictorial history by the Manhattan Beach Historical Society. The most amazing image that I saw in this book was a photo of “a giant sea bass weighing 351 pound caught by C. C. Campus at the Manhattan Beach Pier on May 15 1922.” I immediately decided to research the biology and history of this giant fish and see if I couldn’t reintroduce the story of the fish and its attendant mythology back to the community of Manhattan Beach. I was particularly excited about the local aquarium, the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab, as a site because of its proximity to the ocean and its location on the very pier many of the fish were caught on in the past. Initial conversations with marine biologist Jose Bacallao suggested our collaboration was of mutual academic interest and would prove to be very exciting.

The human experience of the ocean has changed drastically over the last century. Where once giant fish were plentiful, they are endangered. Where the ocean was once an endless site of opportunity and wonder, it is threatened by human excess. There are different values and opportunities at work in a community when a fisherman might be able to catch a 600-pound giant sea bass off the pier during a week-end. What a mysterious and exciting moment those experiences must have been, what dreams these stories and experiences must have created! The ocean was a much more lively place when she revealed her wonders to the people of the local community. Today the giant sea bass is an almost mythical image from another time. Industrial culture, its attendant technology and greed have all taken a toll on the giant sea bass. Today we are only likely to see them in an aquarium. The giant sea bass is a part of Manhattan Beach history, but more importantly it is part of the larger ocean environment. How can we celebrate the future of the large fish rather than regret its loss?

According to articles in California’s Living Marine Resources And Their Utilization, giant sea bass are the largest resident marine bony fish in California. They grow to seven feet five inches in length. Fish up to 563 pounds have been recorded from the sport fishery. Fish up to 75 years old have been caught (A 435-pound specimen. The age of the 563 pound fish was not determined, but may have been 90 to 100 years old). A giant sea bass could live for 75 years or longer, an lifespan equivalent to that of a human being!. Through this exhibit I hope that people will think about the sea and marine life now and and in the future, as well as remember those wonderful memories when man-sized fish appeared on the piers. I believe that jogging the cultural memory of the giant sea bass, and the sight of the juvenile of the species will contribute to a productive sense of ocean stewarding.

Elements of the exhibition

My project consists of three major elements:

1. A very large young fish in the aquarium at the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab, at the end of the Manhattan Beach Pier.
2. A childrens art project created during May 1997. We worked for a week to create the individual scales of for a model of an adult giant sea bass.
3. This web page, consisting of:

• A chronology of Manhattan Beach interspersed with information about the giant sea bass fishery.
• History of the giant sea bass fishery.(California’s Living Marine Resources And Their Utilization.)
• Information about the larger natural context of the Manhattan Beach environment provided by the Roundhouse Staff.

http://www.ci.manhattan-beach.ca.us/sea-bass/project.html

Names of the counties and cities were erased on the world map. A part of a collaborative installation The Kelvinator Pact A project for “LATENT AUGUST: The legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”,
Fort Mason Center,
San Francisco, CA

A world map and eraser
1995

Installation for The Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito California.

Water in 72 languages, 110 degree steam filled room, harmonic audio stream on entry.