Aeolian Garden

Metal pipes, hammocks

UMoCA, San Francesco Bridge

Colle di Val d'Elsa, Italy

2005

 

Metal wind pipes and hammocks hang in the arches underneath the medieval Bridge in the Tuscan town of Colle di Val d'Elsa. When the wind blows through the metal pipes, a humming soundscape fills the arches as visitors lay in the hammocks. The sounds may be faint or loud, harmonious or dissonant, depending on the wind conditions of the moment.

The bridge was originally built to connect the city to the monastery, providing people a spiritual refuge from their daily lives. With this work situated in the present-day park along the bridge, perhaps it can once again serve as a conduit for contemplation and reflection.

 

The pipes recall the shape of church pipe organs. It also demonstrates how nature intervenes with our senses, sometimes pleasing and calming, at other times discordant and turbulent, similar to how spiritual life and daily life collide.