Over time, the Schuylkill River has served many purposes, acting as hub for transportation, industry, and recreation. In a new public art installation, to be presented during three weekends this month, artist Jacob Rivkin will be juxtaposing that history with the river in its current state, projecting hand-drawn animations based on archival material on a floating screen that will traverse the river itself.
Rivkin, the 2018 Mellon Artist-in-Residence in the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH), has spent the last year combing the digital archives and collections of a variety of institutions, identifying photographs, etchings, and drawings related to the Schuylkill. In “Floating Archives,” Rivkin, also a lecturer in the Fine Arts Department in Penn’s School of Design, will project his animations onto a screen suspended between two canoes and paddled up the river.
The work presented will coincide with twilight on three Saturday evenings: Sept. 8, 6:30-10 p.m.; Sept. 15, 6-9:30 p.m.; and Sept. 22, 5:30-9 p.m. (with rain dates of Sept. 9, 16, and 23). Viewers and passersby will be able to observe the installation from the river’s banks and bridges as it journeys from the public dock at Bartram’s Garden to the end of the tidal Schuylkill at the dam near the Fairmount Water Works.
“‘Floating Archives’ offers residents of Philadelphia the opportunity to consider the embedded histories in each landscape,” Rivkin says. “Every sidewalk, landmark, and natural feature contains a narrative that turns each location from a space to a place. As the floating platform moves up the Schuylkill River, animations based on archival material are shown in alignment with the locations they reference. The past and present meet for a doubling of both history and landscape.”
Rivkin took part as an instructor in PPEH’s On-Water Intensive Research Seminar this summer, helping lead participants in hands-on, interdisciplinary inquiries into the river’s past, present, and future. In one project, Rivkin offered guidance in creating floating monuments to the Schuylkill, crafted from litter found along its banks.
Bethany Wiggin, founding director of PPEH, says “Floating Archives” offers a “light touch on sometimes heavy historical materials.”
“For a few years now, PPEH has offered a range of public engagements that seek to interpret the tidal Schuylkill as an unwitting laboratory for centuries-long experiments that range from draining water and ‘reclaiming’ land to energy transitions,” she says. “But these long and ongoing attempts to shape the relations between land and water can be very hard to present in succinct images. Rivkin’s work does just this—without a preachy, didactic tone.”
Additional information is available at the Floating Archives website.
Video by Aidan Un
Kadiri wakati unavyopita, Mto Schuylkill umekuwa na matumizi mengi, ukiwa kitovu cha usafiri, viwanda, na burudani. Katika uundaji mpya wa sanaa ya umma, ambayo itawasilishwa katika miisho ya wiki tatu mwezi huu, msanii Jacob Rivkin ataweka historia hiyo pamoja na mto katika hali yake ya sasa, akipendekeza uhuishaji uliochorwa kwa mkono kulingana na nyenzo za kumbukumbu kwenye skrini inayoelea ambayo itapita mto wenyewe. Rivkin, msanii wa makazi wa Mellon katika Programu ya Penn katika Utamaduni wa Mazingira (PPEH), ametumia mwaka uliopita kuchanganua kumbukumbu za dijiti na makusanyo ya taasisi mbalimbali, kutambua picha, etchings, na michoro inayohusiana na Schuylkill. Katika "Floating Archives", Rivkin, ambaye pia ni mhadhiri katika Idara ya Sanaa Nzuri katika Shule ya Ubunifu ya Penn, ataonyesha michoro yake kwenye skrini iliyowekwa kati ya mitumbwi miwili na kupanda mto. Maonyesho hayo yatatolewa siku tatu za Jumamosi jioni: Septemba 8, saa 6:30-10 jioni; Septemba 15, saa 6-9:30 jioni; na Septemba 22, saa 5:30-9 jioni (kwa tarehe za mvua Septemba 9, 16 na 23). Watazamaji na wapita njia wataweza kuona kituo hicho kutoka kando ya mto na madaraja wakati unaondoka kwenye bandari ya umma katika Bustani ya Bartram hadi mwisho wa Schuylkill ya maji kwenye bwawa karibu na Fairmount Water Works. "Archives Floating" inatoa wakazi wa Philadelphia nafasi ya kuzingatia historia iliyoingizwa katika kila mandhari, "Rivkin anasema. <unk>Kila kijia, alama, na kipengele cha asili kina hadithi ambayo hubadilisha kila eneo kutoka nafasi hadi mahali. Kama jukwaa kuelea anaendelea juu ya Mto Schuylkill, uhuishaji kulingana na nyenzo archival ni kuonyeshwa katika alignment na maeneo wao rejea. "Mwaka huu, Rivkin alishiriki kama mwalimu katika semina ya utafiti wa kina ya PPEH ""On-Water"" na kusaidia kuongoza washiriki katika uchunguzi wa vitendo, wa kitaaluma katika zamani, sasa na siku zijazo za mto." Katika mradi mmoja, Rivkin alitoa mwongozo katika kuunda makaburi ya kuelea ya Schuylkill, yaliyofanyizwa kutokana na uchafu uliopatikana kando ya kingo zake. "Bethany Wiggin, mkurugenzi mwanzilishi wa PPEH, anasema ""Floating Archives"" inatoa ""mshikamano mwepesi juu ya vifaa vya kihistoria vya wakati mwingine vya uzito"" na ""Kwa miaka michache sasa, PPEH imetoa safu ya ushiriki wa umma ambao unatafuta kutafsiri Schuylkill ya maji kama maabara isiyo ya kujitambua kwa majaribio ya karne nyingi ambayo huanzia kutoka kwa maji ya maji na ""kurudisha"" ardhi kwa mabadiliko ya nishati." <unk>Lakini majaribio haya ya muda mrefu na ya kuendelea kuunda mahusiano kati ya ardhi na maji yanaweza kuwa ngumu sana kuwasilisha katika picha fupi. Kazi ya Rivkin inafanya hivyo tu - bila sauti ya kuhubiri, ya kufundisha. Habari za ziada zinapatikana kwenye tovuti ya Floating Archives. Video ya Aidan Un