The neighborhood along 9th South has sources of energy created from the dynamics of today’s social, cultural, and economical landscape. The proposal started from this question: what has formed and will form the valley...to search relationships between earth, air, water, and the collective human intellect behind such dramatic social scenes.
Lakes are created when water collects in a basin of land. There, the water slowly drains and becomes part of Earth’s water cycle. Here, our local landscape was formed by this natural cycle when the ancient Lake Bonneville naturally drained about 14,000 years ago, shaping the Salt Lake Valley like a bowl emptying of water. What remains are the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, and Sevier basin. Another remnant is the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, located a few hundred feet above the valley foor, a line that roughly follows the shoreline of the ancient lake. The movement of water marked its timeline and memory on Earth’s delicate layers and formed our peaceful and beautiful surroundings.
I started envisioning a symbolic depiction that can reunite humanity with Mother Nature--formed from our past and connected our future. Here, I proposed an art form that captures the same spirit of formation and sculpting, as the lake that sculpted our valley.
Shoreline City is a physical concept of our landscape--its past, present, and future. Imagine wind, water, dust, and light going through an airy from, and generating intertwined energy passing through this creature. The sculpture is composed of airy trusses and an earth berm base. The organic shape is a portrayal of lapping lake water, our ancient water line foating above our eye line.
The site-specifc art installation is physically married with its location. Being on a sloped hill, the overarching gate of the airy sculpture stands as an entrance to the East Bench. The foating art form features a 360-degree experience at the roundabout and provides an amplifed, dynamic interaction for passersby while changing their perspectives. Where the floating form is kissing off the berm, there is a solid and durable precase concrete surface for multiple applications of murals. This element invites neighbors to leave their colors and messages on the pedestal of the installation.