The Seventh Climate (Paradise Reconsidered)
Artist
John Roloff
MediumOverhead precipitation, sun, moonlight systems with electronic programming, recycled concrete rubble, trees
DimensionsArt Zone: 90' x 60' x 30-70 ' high (terrain varies)
ClassificationsMultimedia
Credit LineSeattle Parks and Recreation 2000 Pro Parks Levy 1% for Art funds
Description: The Seventh Climate (Paradise Reconsidered) takes up one “square” within a grid created by the freeway columns running in east/west rows from the north to south of the park. At the location of the artwork, the columns are on average 70’H. The ground slopes from NE to SW rather steeply across the art site. A section of the ADA path crosses the art site diagonally on the southern half.
The main components of the artwork are water, artificial light, a grouping of four different trees, concrete rubble as a ground cover, a programmed set of timers that control the water and lighting used to simulate the climate as it was in 1960 (before the freeway covered this site and blocked out the normal weather), and the ADA path.
The water system that creates the “rain” for the artwork is carried in two overhead irrigation lines at about 30’ above the ground running north/south that create a “rain” condition when on. For the sunlight and moon glow, a lighting system is located at the four corner columns, and consists of four banks of three lights each (similar to those used to light athletic fields) attached at approximately 30’. In each bank, two lights simulate sunlight and one, moonlight.
The glow of the lights during the day and night are visible from a distance and various vantage points. The water that creates the “rain” is experienced within the art zone, although it can be seen from a distance as a mist and sometimes, with refractive rainbows, depending on the way the real and artificial light interacts with the mist.
Location: I-5 Colonnade Park, beneath I-5, south of East Howe Street, Seattle WA 98102 (between Lakeview Boulevard and Franklin Avenue East)
Location: I-5 Colonnade Park, beneath I-5, south of East Howe Street, Seattle WA 98102 (between Lakeview Boulevard and Franklin Avenue East)
