Rising Tides Competition

Marking Tides
Rising tides – one of the predicted outcomes of human induced climate change – is an abstract threat. Many are intellectually aware of the threat, but how can this awareness be heightened and infused with emotional dimension?

The ubiquitous piling (footprint of a pier) registers the daily rise and fall, ebb and flow of the sea with a distinct watermark and crust of sea life. The piling, relocated out of the water to an area in imminent threat of flooding by higher seas, carries the memory of tidal waters and evokes the vulnerability of inaction.

Proposal
Abandoned piling from San Francisco Bay piers are rescued from submersion and adapted as a landscape installation. Like the fog that rolls over the bay area – immersive from within; a light, shimmering object from without – the installation offers an ever changing experience. Lighting of the installation at night is powered by integrated photovoltaics that cap the piling.

The strict (saturated) grid of piling is gently repositioned like the sand on a beach, pattered by the waves. As one moves through the installation the bay can no longer be seen. The sound of waves, smell of sea air and the watermark of the piling just above eye level (as being submerged), stimulated the senses. Familiar landmarks are glimpsed in juxtaposition to the installation, reinforcing the place and the threat.