Stranded. Pink Lake Brunswick.
Frozen algae bloom water from the lake under Westgate Bridge. In hot weather salinity in the lake increases until conditions create an algae bloom that temporarily changes the water colour dramatically.
I visited the lake for the first time this year. I made up for lost time and went on three occasions. The first time I took some of my ice sculptures to the waters edge to photograph. I took water samples home and returned with frozen blocks that had transformed slightly in colour, meanwhile the lake had intensified to a colour that seemed as dark and milky as it was possible for a pink to get. The third time I took pink objects to create a pink-ometer, attempting to measure the pinkness and then I took one last water sample, knowing that I would not be returning while the lake was still pink. This sample I combined with grasses and driftwood from the lakes perimeter to create a frozen biomodel. While ice sculptures are generally considered to be ephemeral, in this instance the ice is less ephemeral than the environment it borrows from. As the lake under the bridge returns to its regular industrial water hues this small lake slab has returned to my freezer where it will continue to be pink until the freezer is switched off or the power goes out or it melts away under a communal gaze. This A2 icescape has given me the feels and got me thinking about the implications and ethics of speeding up and slowing down, replicating, reimagining and inverting natural processes and the value of experimentation in art combined with/versus science where my research and investigation are carried out without an emphasis on answers. My knowledge on my current research topics is always temporarily intense (hot pink) during research until the information dissipates, the colours flatten out and the curiosity relocates.
My empathy lies with the lake, quaking in its existence under heavy traffic, having being reshaped by outside forces, undergoing regeneration and awaiting the next transformation.
#lichenkelp and @dylanmartorelll are currently recording a soundtrack to accompany video footage of the pink lake trips by @hypertext.87
DIY Pink-ometer.
Based on Horace-Bénédict de Saussure's cyanometer, invented in 1760 which was constructed with blue papers in various hues to measure blueness.
Pink Purse; Pink-ometer. Measuring the pinkness levels of the lake.
Pink fluorescent sandals at the lakes edge.
Pink intervention.
Pink relief.
After awhile relief from the pinkness was needed.
Green transparent repurposed fruit packaging, reads as blue against pink lake.
Visualising research.
Lapham’s Quarterly Water issue includes a quote by Tom Robbins;
“Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another.”
Lichen at the lake, video still by Patrick Hase/Hypertext
Returning the ice to the water. The first frozen lake sample is reintroduced to its habitat.
Video out take by Patrick Hase/ Hypertext.
Pink drinks. Pink Lake themed drinks.
Pink Slushie. Picturing the process; Liquid>slush>solid(ice)
Natural and artificial pinkness.
Pink drinks; pink laked themed dragonfruit smoothie. Ingesting the lake. Sweetness versus salinity.