VOA文化艺术2022--Artist Plans City Clock Based on River Flow

 

Imagine a town clock that shows not the minutes and seconds that control our lives, but time that moves faster or slower based on how fast rivers are running.

The Chattahoochee River and some smaller bodies of water flow through the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the people in the city do not think much about the river. Jonathon Keats wants to change that. The San Francisco-based artist is on an extended stay in Georgia. He has been working there to help people become more involved with their natural environment.

Keats is called a "conceptual artist," that is, he works with ideas rather than creating physical works of art. His latest concept, "Atlanta River Time," would have volunteers go down to waterways and take measurements. The information they collect, with help from conservation groups and U.S. Geological¹ Survey data, would tell time in a very different way. The natural flow of Georgia's waterways would be shown on a large city clock in downtown Atlanta.

People will "get into the water"

"Ideally, people will get into the water ... to observe and to consider the effects of the flow of water on the world as well as the causes of that flow," Keats told The Associated Press. He wants people to think not only about time, but about "how we live in the world."

Keats has led classes since the fall of 2021 to teach people how to use hand-made materials to record flow rates. To bring his idea into reality he hopes to build a mechanical clock that uses a pendulum². A pendulum is a stick with a weight on one end that moves back and forth³ regularly to keep time. Every year, people would travel to the source of the Chattahoochee river and measure the water flow. They would change the movement of the pendulum based on the water's movement.

Why use waterways, when we have clocks, smart phones, computers and watches telling us the time already?

Keats says he does not use a mobile phone, but he has thought a lot about such questions while walking along Georgia's red-clay riverbanks.

"All of this is a story that we can tell, and a story ... allows us to reflect on ourselves as a result of that — of that path that we take," Keats said.

Art based on ideas

The artist's earlier art projects included selling imaginary "lands," and opening a restaurant that serves special sunlight to plants. He put a "millennium⁴ camera" in a tall building at Amherst College that he said would record climate change through a 1,000-year photograph of a mountain range. Keats has placed similar cameras at Lake Tahoe and Arizona State University.

Keats was invited to be the Artist in Residence at Serenbe, a planned community just outside Atlanta. Along with teaching classes, he can enjoy the natural surroundings nearby. His participants recently made bowls of clay and made record books using colored paper. Then they all traveled to South Fork Peachtree Creek⁵. There, they watched leaves float along with the water. They timed the movement of the leaves by letting water run out through holes in their bowls.

It is a simple way to measure flow rates, but Keats hopes it will help people look differently at how humans interact⁶ with nature.

"I believe that the rivers and streams and creeks⁷ in and around Atlanta are a natural resource that helps us to see ourselves in relation to the natural world more broadly," he said.

Words in This Story

reflect – v. to think of someone or something in a specified⁸ way — + on or upon

Artist in Residence – phrase. Artist-in-residence programs give artists the opportunity to live and work outside of their usual environments, providing them with time to reflect, research, or produce work.

interact – v. to act together : to come together and have an effect on each other — often + with

creek – n. a small stream

1 geological   

adj.地质（学）的

参考例句：

• aeons of geological history 数以亿万年计的地质史
• The workers skirted the edge of the cliff on a geological survey. 工人们沿着崖壁作了一次地质勘察。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

5 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

6 interact   

vi.相互作用，相互影响，互通信息

参考例句：

• All things are interrelated and interact on each other.一切事物互相联系并相互作用。
• The policeman advised the criminal to interact with the police.警察劝罪犯与警方合作。

7 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

8 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。