Spring Box

by Shawn Lani


Spring Box mimics the turbulent emergence of spring water in a sandy bottomed pool. Visitors can change the flow of water which is pumped through a column of sand, thereby controlling a burbling head of sand and water. 


  
Dimensions: 40" x 68"
  x 38" Weight: 450 lbs.

  
Artists Statement:

  
In late February, 1996, I began work on the Spring
  Box prototype. I had spent several hours interviewing Ned Kahn and Jim
  Crutchfield (from the Santa Fe Institute and Cal) for an upcoming show
  called Turbulent Landscapes. As a staff developer, I couldn't resist trying
  some ideas out after listening to these two talk about complexity theories
  for hours. 

  
Growing up in California, I have spent most of
  my summers at a family ranch in eastern Nevada, near Ely. Over the years,
  those summers became important to me and, in many ways, defined who I was
  and how I viewed the world. I first saw the phenomenon of Spring Box when
  I was very young. It bubbled up in a small spring pond, just below the
  ranch. 

  
The pond was only two feet deep, maybe thirty
  yards long and ten yards at its widest. At the top of the pond, a whole
  series of bubbling springs came through the flat, sandy bottom. Over the
  years they changed their location and intensity, but I remember floating
  over them in an innertube, looking down and wondering where the hell all
  the water was coming from. 

  
I didn't remember exactly what it looked like,
  but I remembered how it behaved. So I began prototyping by pouring some
  glass beads in a large glass tube I found in the rotunda. Pumping water
  through the sand created a small, unstable "head" of sand and
  spurting water. Sometimes it moved and swayed in a cyclical rhythm, other
  times it leaned sideways and scooted across the tube. It had quite a personality
  and Ned strongly encouraged me to pursue the project.

  
Pete Richards (who curated the show) came and
  looked at the piece, nodded and smiled a bit and Spring Box was given the
  go ahead for the show. Melissa somehow managed to find the extra funds
  needed for the piece and Jim Meader OK'd the work time. I was given three
  weeks to complete the project.

  
I designed the case to resemble what I called
  a "Spring Box." Ranchers often cover their springs with rough,
  durable wooden or concrete boxes to keep cattle from clogging and muddying
  the spring. These boxes are covered with a heavy wood or tin lid so that
  the spring can be cleared and looked after.

  
Moss-covered and whitened by exposure, the water
  makes these boxes a center for plants, bugs, and all sorts of small animals.
  There is a rare merger of nature and human construction at spring boxes;
  they remain functional, but they have become part of the natural terrain.