An installation similar to “Watershed”: “Culvert Carin” (2013) by Andy Goldsworthy (private collection, California). © Andy Goldsworthy, Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York & Haines Gallery, San Francisco. Click image to enlarge.
A new commissioned work, Watershed — a site-specific work designed to interact with the deCordova’s Sculpture Park’s unique natural environment will make deCordova the only public institution in New England with an outdoor work by internationally renowned British artist Andy Goldsworthy.
Throughout his career, Goldsworthy has explored the power of water. Its force, energy, and impact respond to the rhythm of weather, and have strong and powerful consequences on the landscape. Watershed is composed of an open-fronted, nine-by-fifteen-foot granite stone structure, partially-embedded in the slope of deCordova’s pond-side hill.
The work will be built in a vernacular style, echoing stone walls and structures found throughout New England, using local materials and the expert assistance of Goldsworthy’s team of British wallers. On the structure’s interior rear wall, stonework will radiate in concentric circles from a drain outlet centered in the wall—a powerful evocation of water’s energy and pattern. Goldsworthy hopes that local environmental organizations will engage with the work and its attention to rainwater.
In times of heavy rain, water that flows across deCordova’s paved upper lot will be collected and channeled underground to pour from the outlet in the work’s rear wall, giving form to the usually unremarked course of groundwater across hard surfaces and allowing people to see and hear the work come to life. In dry weather the wall will stand expectantly, waiting to be activated. The work will serve to illustrate both the impermanence and the lasting effects of water, through the growth of residues like mineral deposits, moss, and patina. With the invitation to enter the piece, the human presence in all of these periods activates the work and its lifetime.
“The permanent installation of Watershed will enhance deCordova’s offerings for visitors passionate about the connection between art and nature — and for those who simply wish for the unforgettable experience of encountering a Goldsworthy installation in the landscape,” said deCordova Executive Director John B. Ravenal.
Installation begins this spring and is expected to be complete by the end of 2019. Major funding for this project is provided by the Nancy Foss Heath & Richard B. Heath Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as numerous generous private supporters.