A mixed media installation comprised of two hand-built wooden structures inspired by zurawie studzienne: traditional Eastern European wooden crane wells.
The wooden wells were often built using easily found wooden logs, varying in shape and size. The erected wooden well would become a prominent figure in the backyard of a farm, yet its intrinsically natural construction would rarely place it out of context with the environment. This art installation follows the same traditional methodology of repurposing natural materials: each water well structure is built from weathered wooden logs and reinforced with straw rope. Its auxiliary elements such as the metal handles and chains are derived from found, donated or otherwise heavily used objects.
A bucket suspended from one end of the well’s arm is tied with the use of straw rope, which is then connected to a wooden handle and an old rusted chain connecting the bucket to the rest of the structure. The crane’s arm is balanced with a rock attached to the opposite end. The arm of the well is attached to the base, and although it normally uses the lever principle to allow the bucket to be lowered down the well to draw water, it is permanently attached to the base in this particular art installation. Each individual part of the crane water well in this project is attached with the use of straw rope. The base of each structure consists of three wooden legs, tied with rope to alleviate the need for additional support of the structure, and to maintain its visual simplicity.
Each metal bucket in this art installation houses a built-in speaker which is connected to one of two audio channels, thus emanating distinct sounds and establishing a notion of a dialogue between each wooden well, where the disparate at time individual sounds eventually mesh into a cacophony of resonance. This attempts to provide the viewer of the installation with a setting focused on the intensity and the meditative power of the sound comprising the audio piece.
