Sparrow
1987
100´x 4´x 22" Ice, concrete, iron & steel.
Dedicated to Libya
Dedicated to Libya
At Socrates Park, N.Y.C., on a leveled stretch of ground, parallel with the East River about 15´ from the embankment, twenty five 3" diameter sections of iron pipe were anchored in the ground at 4´ intervals leaving 16" above ground, level with each other along the axis of this piece. A 100´ by 4" by 1/4" flat steel blade was placed along the axis within 2" deep slots cut into the tops of the pipes. The first two of these iron blade supports were placed 2´ from either end. A level 22"-high plywood screeding form was erected at both ends and at 2´ from the blade on each side along its full length. The entire interior of the form was filled with 300-pound ice blocks, level with the top of the blade and 4" below the top of the form. Two tons of 2" blue stone aggregate was put on top of the ice, while steel reinforcement bars were placed on each side within the stone, paralleling the blade. Sections of 16-guage wire were attached to re-bar on both sides of the blade and passed directly over the blade at 1´ intervals throughout the full length of the piece. A common gray cement sand mix was then poured unto and screeded level and down into the blue stone.
A day later, after the concrete set, the screeding form was removed. Thereafter timing was in the hands of the disappearing ice. Within a few days all the weight of the slab rested on the blade teetering slightly from side to side. At this juncture I hit the concrete with a chisel at one end above the blade, initiating the break as though it were a scored length of glass. A growl roared through it as a fissure opened above the blade. The full weight of each side was then again supported by the remaining ice. During the next two weeks the sides folded in, restrained by the wires over the blade, as the ice melted away, completing its transition from a relatively simple form into a semblance of ruin or perhaps a tank barrier. Its jagged break revealing the blade beneath also uncovered the dark stone aggregate.
A single simply cast level slab of gray concrete was placed alongside a river briefly assuming an image of geometric perfection, a runway whereupon models might prance or toy planes land. Inevitable transformations occur. Ice melted, the weights shifted, a chisel sounded, a fault opened, as a blade broke through. The world was again different.
The title "Sparrow" invites that tough city bird to join the poem.
A day later, after the concrete set, the screeding form was removed. Thereafter timing was in the hands of the disappearing ice. Within a few days all the weight of the slab rested on the blade teetering slightly from side to side. At this juncture I hit the concrete with a chisel at one end above the blade, initiating the break as though it were a scored length of glass. A growl roared through it as a fissure opened above the blade. The full weight of each side was then again supported by the remaining ice. During the next two weeks the sides folded in, restrained by the wires over the blade, as the ice melted away, completing its transition from a relatively simple form into a semblance of ruin or perhaps a tank barrier. Its jagged break revealing the blade beneath also uncovered the dark stone aggregate.
A single simply cast level slab of gray concrete was placed alongside a river briefly assuming an image of geometric perfection, a runway whereupon models might prance or toy planes land. Inevitable transformations occur. Ice melted, the weights shifted, a chisel sounded, a fault opened, as a blade broke through. The world was again different.
The title "Sparrow" invites that tough city bird to join the poem.