Located in an office trailer, the installation displayed stories with a global perspective on drinking-water use while the performance grew out of conversations with Seattle Public Utility staff.
Installation view: water stories. audience stories, trailer.
Water stories: one. two, three, four, five. six, seven, eight, nine.
Performance: video excerpt (8 minutes).
Over the last fifty years Mel has walked most of the major sewer lines in the city. On one occasion he encountered a piece of plywood lying across the inside of the pipe. Resting on the plywood were a chair and a table like you might have next to your bed.
I imagine that someone lived in a noisy, complicated part of the city and needed to get away. Down in the pipe they could sit, listen to the flow beneath their feet, and look up through a circular window to the sky.