His presentation, in four parts:

The Mississippi, like all great rivers, is constantly rearranging itself, filling in where it used to be, cutting new watery paths through fields, creating islands.

Chicago alone is facing a budget gap of $654 million next year. Too bad they can’t use the $1 million of taxpayer money the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District spent over three years on lavish dinners and trips.

Sans Shakespeare and dribble in a little Henry David Thoreau, “Water is the only drink for a wise man.” And we drank and got drunk and we were wiser.

One summer now in twilight. Reflections on or about the water. A marathon experiential learning experience and a band of brothers and sisters.

You wouldn’t know it now, but Chicago was once an enormous swamp. If you’d begun at the lake and walked West, you would have crossed a series of dunes and swales, and then found yourself in miles of marsh and wetland. Only occasional ridges and high points would have supported any trees. Running through this was the small, seasonal, Chicago River. Not much to look at before Chicago was founded, Sieur de LaSalle commented in the 1680s that it was “ten to fifteen yards wide, and only a few inches deep”. At this time, the River that now sports tour boats, barges and yachts was “not even navigable by canoes, except after [the Spring] flood”.

If the river was so small, where was all of the region’s water going? Not a bad question, and the answer lies in the swamps. It used to rain about as much as it does now, but swamps act like giant sponges, soaking up and storing the rain. Not only that, but water sitting on the surface evaporated, and plants transpired huge volumes of water back to the atmosphere. About 70% of the rain the fell on the region went back into the atmosphere through one of these routes. The rest seeped into the Lake, into groundwater, or flowed into Lake Michigan through the Chicago River.

Chicago’s landscape changed as settlers built the city. They needed to drain the swamps to create safe building conditions. To do this, they installed drains, many of which emptied into the River. This gave dry land for building, and moved water off the land much more quickly, before it could return to the atmosphere. The network of drains grew along with the City, and now there is virtually no swamp left. Instead, rain is funneled quickly into drains, then piped to treatment plants that later discharge it into the Chicago River. That’s why the River is so much larger now; it now carries virtually all the rain that falls in the region.

In the midst of all this swamp draining and river building, the City found itself in the late 1800s with a huge disease problem. All of Chicago’s residential and industrial sewage, which wasn’t treated at the time, was piped into the Chicago River, and then flowed into the Lake. At the same time, Chicago was drawing its drinking water from the Lake. Not surprisingly, rates of disease were high, with Typhoid in particular killing many residents. Something needed to be done.

The Chicago region’s geography as a flat, swampy, area came to the rescue. The continental divide between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi watersheds – the ridge that determines whether a drop of rain flows East through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic or West through the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico – is just west of the city. It’s not much to look at as continental divides go, and Illinois decided to breach it. A canal was dug to connect the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River, which then flows into the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The final part of the trick was to reverse the flow of the Chicago River. This was accomplished with a series of locks that still operate, and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, as it’s known, was opened in 1900.

How did this help Typhoid? As you may have guessed, the solution to Chicago’s disease problems was to move its sewage away from its drinking water, through the Mississippi and out to the Gulf. Needless to say, cities like St. Louis, which draw their drinking water from the Mississippi, were outraged. But, a number of Supreme Court cases later, Chicago still pumps its wastewater to the Mississippi, and draws relatively safe water from the Lake for drinking.

Which brings us to invasive species. The canal was originally far too polluted by Chicago’s sewage – more polluted than local septic tanks, by some reports – to support any life. Over time, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has begun to treat the sewage, and by the 1970s the Canal, and the Chicago River, were returning to a better level of health. Overall, this was a good thing. The problem was that this has allowed aquatic species to move from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi, and vice versa. As people on both sides of the divide become more concerned about invasive species and the damage they cause, the Canal has become a big issue.

Asian carp are just the latest species to use the Canal to get from one watershed to the other. Zebra mussel, one of the world’s most notorious invaders, moved from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi through the Canal in the 1990s. It’s now found as far West as California, where it causes tens of millions of dollars in damage. Other species, including invasive plants and fish diseases, are poised on each side of the canal. This is not a problem that will go away anytime soon.

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. Some have advocated re-engineering the system to close the Canal and make the two watersheds separate again. Many cities now treat their water to a high enough standard that it could be returned to the Lake, so this is a real possibility for Chicago. It would solve the invasive species problem, but would require expensive modifications to Chicago’s piping and water treatment systems. It may also harm the shipping and barge industries that use the Canal. Other options are to beef up defenses within the Canal. There are already electric barriers to discourage fish movement, and other types of non-physical barriers have been suggested. These would also be costly, and we don’t know how well they’d work – no-one has tried these experimental technologies before. There may be yet more options, and perhaps these will come to light as government agencies continue to investigate the problem.

Again, there is no easy solution, but there is a very definite and very large problem. Addressing it will be expensive and will probably take years. Failing to address it will mean more invasions on both sides of the divide, and huge environmental and economic costs from those invasions. Of all the options available, inaction certainly doesn’t look like a good one.

Note: Much of the material about the history of the Chicago River comes from Joel Greenberg’s excellent book A Natural History of the Chicago Region, published in 2002 by University of Chicago Press.

A version of this article appeared in the Chicago Tribune on September 1 and is available at ChicagoTribune.com

I was able to incorporate two songs from the upcoming Soundtrack of Design Interventions on Water, “Be Water, Be Cause.” The video here highlights a singular moment in early August of 2010, but it represents multiple moments to come. View Sound In Motion:The Blue Yarn Project from Rich Klevgard on Vimeo.

I had my own share of enlightenment in this workshop that came in the form of humor, anxiety and wanting. The humor for me is in our language, the superb and superfluous entanglement of our talks and our quiet pauses. The puns that came and went, the longer lines of lexicon bridging us closer to defining our cause, or further complexing us as we tried to attach our movement to some firmament. Hah, the liquid and solid, colliding and slipping aside of each other. An unwieldy lovers’ embrace, all of us and the entire world in a relationship with water. In a breath our past able to be washed away, a life of wastefulness cleansed. One flush, 1.5 gallons down the drain. My showers are shorter, and my teeth are clean but not at the cost of water waste. I used the language we learned to teach. To teach my family, my two young sons, an inordinate number of soccer players young and old, and those in my community that water conservation is a “Yes!”, not a “…maybe.”

The anxiety came from a plethora of ideas, concept, visual demonstrations, and a brilliant recant time after time of projects that took effect. Big ideas with simple messages fusing themselves to our group week after week. It was a lot. I have been a stay at home father for my kids and my wife for almost 10 years. I eschewed work opportunities to forge endless possibilities in domestic quality control in the Klevgard home. The anxious sweat of working with grownups to create, interact, and execute was daunting. Our group was a deep tunnel of creativity, with its endless stream of thought, attitude, and D. I. Y.

The wanting proved to be an odd discourse with myself. To be in a crowd of such monstrous ability and to lust for a language that was simple, directed and to the point. I talk myself in circles sometimes, a repetitive wave that sometimes forgets to listen. This summer I heard the voices, I saw the visions, I tasted the water, I got the religion. I believe in water. The want, or the thirst was apparent in me, but it was recognizable in all of us.

The two billion gallon man costume was brilliant. I remember handing some earphones to Rick hoping to give the soundtrack to an immeasurable dance that only he could choreograph. How naive. The sound was in his ears already, he didn’t need to hold the conch to his ear to get the beat. A whirling shaman leading a parade. I could feel Lisa Korpan’s ice message melting. I started handing out cards. More people began to hand out cards. I started to tie blue yarn onto people’s wrists. The watery message of our cause was sliding away. Thankfully the beach opened itself to us, and our march that was short, suddenly felt redeeming. The shiny water reflections of Julie Heyduk tickled us and we moved forward. The dancing shaman wiggled, and jiggled in way that only a Kool Aid man could know. A slip and slide, sand sculptures, more ice messages, and finally a baptismal closing photo to round up our day. Orchestrated by Rick and his brother Bill, we gathered and one by one and then stepped out of the photo with finally only the two billion gallon man remaining. “We’ll animate it in reverse!” he called out.

That’s exactly my sentiment as well. Let’s do it again, let’s do it everyday.Let’s animate it in reverse!!!

August 21, 2010, 2:30 PM, Buena Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago;
3.28 gallons of fresh Lake Michigan water, intercepted on its way to the Gulf of Mexico

Tune in, turn it off and put any possible back. Love Our Lake.

Illuminations is a series of site specific public interactions employing projected messages in the vicinity of the Chicago River. The objective is to bring awareness to Chicago’s use/abuse of its most precious natural resource, Lake Michigan, and damaging effects of the reversal of the Chicago River. As a gently disruptive media presentation, the illuminated typographic messages unexpectedly draw attention to water issues through meaningful juxtapositions with Chicago’s cityscape.

This Call to Action project was initially performed and documented in August 2010. However, as additional projections are performed and documented, the video presentation will be continually updated with new footage, new messages, and new locations. It is truly alive.

It’s Our Water. It’s Our Responsibility.

—
Music by The Sundresses (song: The Barking House / album: Barkinghaus / courtesy of: the All Night Party / water type: Fresh).

http://www.chicagoartdepartment.org/2010/08/call-for-artists-great-lakes-workshop/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession

I believe in water, and the water believes in me.

“Chicago is the nation’s only major city that doesn’t disinfect its wastewater before pumping it back into the environment.” Obama, U.S. EPA push for cleaner Chicago River; June 01, 2010 Michael Hawthorne, Tribune reporter

Mural 1 of 7, "You and I need to talk". Love, The Lake @ Johalla Projects

In a symbolic gesture towards Chicago’s misuse of Lake Michigan, I’d like to personally invite you and the City of Chicago to watch this work wash away forever. At dusk I’ll be removing this last communication in the 7 piece series. Just as our water, our issues, our lake and our river… you can come watch it wash away. The perfect view is across the street from Wicker Park’s Ear Wax cafe. 8:3p-ish.

All of these works are in conjunction with Call to Action / It Our Water / Moving Design and their real efforts to reform Chicago’s waterways into a clean and sustainable system.

2 of 7, "We could be forever". Love, the Lake. @ Cap'n Jazz street performance.

Love, The Lake is an ephemera exposition dialoguing water’s relationship with Chicago. Over seven days, communication-artist Nick Adam created and removed one mural a day at Chicago’s Johalla Projects that anthropomorphizes our relationship with water. This series was spawned from Nick’s Wet-Work: Water Murals project.

3 of 7, "Only if we change" Love, The Lake. Photo reversed from interior.

Wet-work: Water Murals
Emotions, knowledge, space and time are the ever-evolving components of experience. With the spread of knowledge life is endlessly progressing with each moment. Lasting accurately transmitted thoughts and memories have been possible through the application of symbols to surface. Communicating in archival forms provides documentation for a seeming eternity, these documents lay and hang as permanent proofs of existence. Accurately expressing pen-to-paper that which lives in a state consistent reverberation, is a conceptual clash.

4 of 7, "Our use". Love, the Lake @ 1561 N. Milwaukee, 2am

Water; purely ephemera, highly volatile, as timely and precious as a moment. It flows as a beautiful vital medium. Since forever but not for forever, just as our lakes, as our rivers, our rain, all the taps. These works are points of awareness. They stand and age as proof of life, watch them wash away.

5 of 7, "The other cities show respect." Love, the Lake @ Johalla Projects in Wicker Park

The water is ours, yours and mine, the birds and bees, all the plants and all the trees. Life is a relationship between being and water. All of what water exist today was here day-one of Earth. Every drink, shower, and flush has been used before. Water has a past, a story. The correspondence is of our relationship, the details are based on usage and treatment. I know we want a sustainable and clean relationship with water. It all starts with awareness.

6 of 7, "We can fix us" Love, The Lake @ evening rush-hour in Wicker Park

What was once a naturally renewing cycle, Chicago transformed both literally and linearly into a drain via reversing the Chicago River. 99% water in Chicago’s drains, flushes and sewers does not get disinfected and flows out to the Chicago River, downstate, to the Mississippi and out to the Gulf. Along the way humans and nature taste and learn our story… of (ab)use and (mis)treatment. Chicago is capable and willing of so much more.

7 of 7, "Love, The Lake". The ball is in our court. Can Chicago change?

View progress shots in the slide-show.
Oscar Arriola posted some brilliant photos of the project on his flickr.

I like it, immensely.

Dr. Emoto discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them. He found that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors.

He found ‘love” and ‘gratitude, the two words together, created the most important vibration. He said it is even more important that we understand the value of these words. For example, we know that water is described as H2O. If we were to look at love and gratitude as a pair, gratitude is the H and love is the O. This combination creates balance, like yin and yang. Water is the basis that not only supports but also allows the existence of life.

This mixed-media piece will be on display at the Chicago Art Department (1837 S. Halsted, Pilsen) for the Hard Science show, Friday, August 13 from 6-10pm.

For more info go to chicagoartdepartment.org

I caught fish, I played innumerable sequences of my water soundtrack. I thought about activism and awareness, and I thought about all 16 of us. I thought about our collective efforts as a conduit, as a multifaceted interface between our call to action and the audience that awaits.

Today, I introduced the Blue Yarn Project to 32 soccer players, the youngest only 6 years old and the oldest 13 years old. Pausing on one knee they listened to my 3 minute talk of what we had accomplished today as soccer players and what we would accomplish tomorrow as we made our first step toward becoming water stewards, and water ambassadors.

It’s a leap of faith. It’s a vocal act of embrace, one generation to another, simple, singular and beautiful.

Recently a friend commented that our water murals and ice messages might be seen as wasteful and counterproductive to our cause, asserting that we are using water for non-utilitarian purposes. But at this moment, there is an absolute need to capture the attention of the people of Chicago,  to initiate a dialogue by expressing the preciousness of water.

Crafting our messages with water (and ice) is a deliberate and thoughtful use of our water. Running the water needlessly while brushing your teeth is a thoughtless use of water. At a larger scale, Chicago thoughtlessly discards 2 billions gallons of fresh water a day, diverting it to the Gulf of Mexico rather than giving it back to the Great Lakes.

Fresh water is abundant in the Great Lakes region, but not infinite. Be thoughtful in your use of our precious resource.

That is if Chicago returned to the natural cycle of our water ways that once existed. Chicago’s use of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River is linear. All… 100% of our water be it from the faucet, hose, fountain, toilet, et cetera comes form Lake Michigan, 99% is never returned to the Lake or the Great Lakes. Ontop of that, Chicago sends that water downstream in an infected state, full of effluent laden with human waste.

As the title of my second mural depicted here states… “We could be forever”.
Love, The Lake project

Nick lines a dropped stroke adding depth and typographic impact.

Oscar Arriola, other wise known as Fotoflow is Chicago’s leading scene/street photographer and the highest ambassador through Chicago’s Art scene. I must graciously thank him for covering the removal of the first mural as well the installation of the second one at Johalla Projects.

More of Oscar’s photos from the series can be seen here: Oscar Arriola’s Flickr.
Oscar blog covering Chicago’s art scene: Oscar Arriola’s Blogger

Thanks and enjoy the day,
Nick

Read the full article at  “Empty water tanks full of history, city says”

Johalla Projects,  July 30th thru August 6th. 1561 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60622
Sunday’s install is 7pm-9pm during Wicker Park Fest. Watch from the North-Stage were Baroness and Torche will be performing live.

The water, it’s ours. Yours and mine, the birds and bees, all the plants and all the trees. Life is a relationship between being and water.

First installation "You and I need to talk" @ Johalla projects. Created July 30th, removed July 31st.

All of what water exist today was here from day-one on Earth. Every drink, shower, and flush has been used before. Water has a past… a story. The correspondence is of our relationship, the details are based on usage and treatment.

“Chicago is the nation’s only major city that doesn’t disinfect its wastewater before pumping it back into the environment.”
Obama, U.S. EPA push for cleaner Chicago River; June 01, 2010 Michael Hawthorne, Tribune reporter

Day two: "We could be forever" @ Johalla Projects Created July 31th, to be replaced tonight 7pm-ish.

What was once a naturally renewing cycle, Chicago transformed both literally and linearly into a drain via reversing the Chicago River. Every sink, shower, bath, pool, hose, toilet and water source in Chicago are spouts of Lake Michigan. Every drain, flush and sewer does not get disinfected and flows out to the Chicago River, downstate, to the Mississippi and out to the Gulf. Along the way all humans and nature taste and learn our story… our (ab)use… our (mis) treatment. As one of the greenest cities in America Chicago is capable and willing of so much more.

Day two @ Johalla Projects. During Cap'n Jazz @ Wicker Park Fest.

The water is ours,
Nick

Another water related inset in this mural is an ode to Rich Klevgard’s concept of the Spanish Take Me to The River cover. “Lower left corner; Llévame Al Rio”, para ti Señor.

waterfootprint.org

This is a sneak preview of the Illuminations project, which will be unveiled over the next few weeks along the banks of the Chicago River. These luminous, site specific design interventions are intended to engage, inform, and activate Chicago citizens on issues of water stewardship.

More to come in the following weeks.

As Assistant Commissioner at the Chicago Department of Water Management, Peter Mulvaney has been committed to enhancing the stewardship of Chicago’s water resources and to create and capitalize on “greener” facility planning. His career started as a field biologist in New Mexico, which led to his interest in the interaction of environment and human activities. Peter then pursued these interests as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, and later as an environmental consultant at a premiere water resources and engineering firm.

Peter has a BA in Psychology from the University of Colorado, and he won the Kappe Environmental Fellowship from  The Pennsylvania State University to earn his MS in Pollution Control Engineering and later earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. Peter has been LEED accredited since 2002.

The perfect desk mantra for the citizen-resident-decision makers of this fine city.

Type by Sighn, Rendering by Rick Valicenti.

Allow me to act as decoder:
Chicago’s poor-infrastructure was over come by rain water. We, the city has chosen not to let sewage flow in the curbs of the street, we’ve elected to open the gates to Lake Michigan and dump the raw sewage there. The sewage is untreated and has transformed the lake into a poisonous highly-toxic pool of human waste. Sorry, for we saw no other option. Now we are asking you not to swim in the lake, over several days the water will dilute the human-waste to a level we deem swimming-safe. In these times of sewage filled lake, the beaches are still open for fun but for the sake of your health don’t go in the water. Until further notice our 26 miles of coast is closed due to our failing sewage management.

Image taken from www.chicagoparkdistrict.com

Enjoy the day but stay away from water.
- Nick
p.s. Our drinking water comes right from the lake to our faucet. If you haven’t already, it’s a great day to buy a filter.

Beach Combing Day- After opening of Chicago River locks and bacteria spilling over onto beaches.

Nature has a way to level the playing field.

Chicago – as we are one of the greenest cities in America, we are capable and willing of so much more.

Fight the heat, stay hydrated, enjoy the day.

- Nick

There is magic in our hearts. There is documentations in the room now that sing the beauty of simplicity. The shimmering effervescence of the water and mirror project. So seemingly rough hewn, shards of reflective mirror in a shallow aluminum pan that as one point seemed destined to for a marriage to a Betty Crocker cake mix, but now telling a single, multifaceted story. Light, water, magic: simple.

Now, the message. At one point in our journey it seemed elusive and we rallied. Our “tea leaves” aligned. We are water, and the water is us. It courses through our veins, its tiny rivulets trickle from our brows. Water is life. A singular message as perfect as a baby in a bathtub, deliciously warm water splashing captured by Lisa Korpan.

Lastly, the fuse is the mortar between are bricks and paving stones. Our “connect” is the “why” that  the medium and the message join. The personal nature is evident in the message, the medium is that conduit that makes it work, but it is the fuse that holds it the proper light to make it true and effective.

So, I close again here with verse from poet Dylan Thomas.

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower

A dirtier Nick, for a cleaner Chicago.

What was once the artery that elevated Chicago from mid-west swamp land, to city number two of our great Union is now used as intestines to flush human-waste out. What is more incouragable is that this “water” is sent south for others to drink of and nature to utilize.

Water, soap and elbow grease... Killian scrubs thought into existence.

“The result is a river and canal system running so thick with fecal coliform that signs along the banks warn that the contents below are not suitable for “any human body contact.” It is poison, basically.” – NBC’s Chicago River; Trouble for Great Lakes System

Love Da Lake, a declaration dependence to water.

POISON! Poison, you can not touch it. We have been blessed with a Great Lake. A Great River is possible once we treat it respectfully/properly/effectively.

Another "X", marking where we stand.

Enjoy the day.
- Nick

W. Kinzie Street and N. Clinton Street, July 17 2010

N. Elizabeth Street, south of W. Hubbard Street, July 17 2010

N. Ogden Avenue, south of W. Hubbard Street, July 17 2010

10 am  – 12 noon

Taylor Park Soccer Field in Oak Park, Illinois.

Each day during our annual event of Max’s and Sam’s Summer Soccer Camp I will be teaching a next generation of water stewards a little something gleaned from the Moving Design Intervention on Water sessions. To mark our solidarity each camper (ages 6-14) will receive a bracelet signifying their membership in The Blue Yarn Project. 

Affixed to either their wrist or ankle this thin strand of blue yarn will serve to remind each of them of their relationship to water for as long as they wear it and beyond. Membership in The Blue Yarn Project  encourages a personal sterwardship and encourages members to be the voices for our only non-renewable resource. 

Stay tuned in as we promise to post a few of our pep talks from The Blue Yarn Project members as they share, comment and change the world!

Edward Glatfelter is the Water Conservation Program Director for the Alliance for the Great Lakes. Ed is responsible for the Alliance’s water conservation work in all the Great Lakes states, including advocating for strong implementation of the Great Lakes Compact.

Early today my son Max and I did our own experiment in the private space of our garden. Inspired by both Nick Adam and Andy Goldsworthy, we crafted our message from paper, with scissors and then arranged it on slate rock. Stencils misted by water spray, then removed to leave the underlying words.

Then Tuesday evening arose like a maelstrom of ideas swirling from within and around. Our tidal pool had filled again, and again. I left Archeworks with my head spinning with the promise of direction, with purpose. So much, in such a brief amount of time. My head is still spinning as I revisit the list of theatrics that we dreamed aloud.

We take a moment now. Breathe. Focus. The purpose of energizing my relationship water through the education of others and myself. More than simply facts, more than simply a visual demonstration of the need to curb our thirst, but a voluminous pitcher  designed to educate, to teach, to pour forth persuasion, to refresh the jaded and toast the future of clean water and all the rights that the Great Lakes’ bounty might always provide.

As Bill Linehan called out to R.V. last week, “It was if all the tea leaves had lined up finally and that illusive focus became crystal clear and direction of energy like a laser beam. It seemed as if the whole group was one creative mindset, people firing off creative bursts impromptu – with Nick on fire and Bud so resourceful in synthesizing and ‘putting into action’.”

So, one can dispense with the sitting and watching. It is now the time to engage— afterall this isn’t business, it’s personal.

After earning his PhD at the University of Notre Dame, Keller held research positions at the University of Cambridge, and then at the University of Notre Dame where he edited the book Bioeconomics of Invasive Species. His presentation on invasive species in the Great Lakes enlightened us on the severity of the situation.

Above Scott Reinhard details his phrase “Drip Drop”, a Call to Action water-mural collaboration with Nick Adam.

Water is not new it’s age old, 100% of what does exist today was here day-one of Earth. Every drink, shower, and flush has been used before, water has a past… a story. What it says about us is based upon our treatment (pun intended). Chicago does not effectively clean it’s water, yet the water is passed along for others to drink, shower, and flush. They taste and live our story.

I invite all of you, to literally watch these murals wash away. As they are documented and presented here, I soon will begin to announce locations. Overtime they too will wash on down the sewer, the river, Mississippi, and out to the Gulf. As I mentioned life goes on, we will drink, shower, and flush this story too. These walls stand as points of awareness… opportunities to learn your story and impact on Earth.

Enjoy the day
- Nick

Nick Adam considers the next brush stroke in his phrase "Riverse Thinking", another water-mural collaboration with Scott Reinhard.

A protest song documenting a battle set along the Ohio River. A nightmare or reality? Who controls the river? Smoke & mirrors infrastructure? Price fixing? Could it be?
They’re coming through the roof!

This song written and performed by The Sundresses of Cincinnati, OH. Released on their 2009 album, The Barkinghaus.

Brad Schnittger, singer/songwriter of the Sundresses and longtime friend, has agreed to perform troubadour style at the Moving Design grand event (pending it works with his tour schedule). He knows a lot of songs about water and protest, plus several baptismal hymnals.

Our approach is simple and challenging—unite content with expression. Or more directly, be (one with) water.

For the next 3 weeks we will leverage our individual and collective assets:

creativity / imagination / mistakes

personal voices

collected data

public spaces (digital & analog)

colleagues (here or elsewhere)

your ability to work/play within the

extreme constraints of no time & money

and

everything that has come before us.

We hope you will join us in the deep end.

Here’s what to anticipate from us:

water murals

sand sculptures

frozen installations

infographic projections

two-billion gallon man

water bowl reflections

just listen, a tunnel/water soundscape

viral meetup psychedelic dance party

water instruments

take me to the river (in spanish)

compilation of water – songs by local artists

marching band

the campaign — invoice ad/poster/invite

newsletter as wheatpasted posters

splash page

___ makes me wet

curating water experiences

historic images of the chicago river

“we need to talk” – water anthropomorphized

Kayakers Color Alert System

I used ___ gallons stickers

the quick fix

the blue yarn project

baptism a group portrait

Second life virtual water dance party

Scientific lecture performance