Proposal for a temporary public artwork on West San Fernando Street under the Highway 87 overpass and over the Guadalupe River, San Jose, CA
It takes about 68 seconds to cross under Highway 87 and over the Guadalupe River while walking on West San Fernando Street. Jets fly overhead on their way to the airport, the freeway forms a massive gray concrete ceiling, and cars wiz past while the meandering Guadalupe River beneath provides a makeshift landing strip for ducks and egrets flying at arm’s length from the people moving along the Guadalupe Riverwalk. The site, built to withstand earthquakes and mitigate floods, is noisy, gray, cold, and muscular, interspersed with fleeting bits of nature and glances of wildlife.
An enormous 8-foot-wide yellow and orange aluminum California Poppy disrupts thonotonous scene as it floats through the air from under the north side of the West San Fernando Street overpass, gently swaying and turning in the wind as it heads for one of the massive columns that support Highway 87. Just before hitting the column it reverses direction, heads back toward the West San Fernando Street overpass, and disappears underneath once again. Another colossal California Poppy follows the same routine. Slightly more yellow than the first, it emerges instead from the south side of the West San Fernando overpass. Each of the Poppie moves from under the West San Fernando Street overpass toward its respective highway support column and back under the overpass in about the time it takes one to walk under Highway 87. Thin aircraft cable coiling around a motor under the middle of the overpass, together with a pulley on the column, loop like old-fashioned clotheslines, carrying Poppies on their circular itineraries. Steel straps secured by threaded rods and bolts attach the motors and pulleys to the columns so that no holes need to be drilled into the concrete.
Tiny LED lights in the Poppies’ stamens illuminate the flowers through the night as they move over the Guadalupe River like willful chandeliers being pursued by their reflections in the water below.
Proposal for a temporary public artwork on West San Fernando Street under the Highway 87 overpass and over the Guadalupe River, San Jose, CA
It takes about 68 seconds to cross under Highway 87 and over the Guadalupe River while walking on West San Fernando Street. Jets fly overhead on their way to the airport, the freeway forms a massive gray concrete ceiling, and cars wiz past while the meandering Guadalupe River beneath provides a makeshift landing strip for ducks and egrets flying at arm’s length from the people moving along the Guadalupe Riverwalk. The site, built to withstand earthquakes and mitigate floods, is noisy, gray, cold, and muscular, interspersed with fleeting bits of nature and glances of wildlife.
An enormous 8-foot-wide yellow and orange aluminum California Poppy disrupts thonotonous scene as it floats through the air from under the north side of the West San Fernando Street overpass, gently swaying and turning in the wind as it heads for one of the massive columns that support Highway 87. Just before hitting the column it reverses direction, heads back toward the West San Fernando Street overpass, and disappears underneath once again. Another colossal California Poppy follows the same routine. Slightly more yellow than the first, it emerges instead from the south side of the West San Fernando overpass. Each of the Poppie moves from under the West San Fernando Street overpass toward its respective highway support column and back under the overpass in about the time it takes one to walk under Highway 87. Thin aircraft cable coiling around a motor under the middle of the overpass, together with a pulley on the column, loop like old-fashioned clotheslines, carrying Poppies on their circular itineraries. Steel straps secured by threaded rods and bolts attach the motors and pulleys to the columns so that no holes need to be drilled into the concrete.
Tiny LED lights in the Poppies’ stamens illuminate the flowers through the night as they move over the Guadalupe River like willful chandeliers being pursued by their reflections in the water below.