Public Art Installation Dry Run Considers California’s Drought Through Poetry

A sound module, part of ‘Dry Run.’

From April 7 through Sept. 7, residents of and visitors to Santa Clarita, Calif., who happen to walk, run or bike on the pedestrian pathway between the Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway Bridges may experience Dry Run, a new sound art installation by students and faculty of CalArts’ Center for Integrated Media.

In Dry Run, six sound-art modules that look like music boxes are suspended from poles along the trail. Standing underneath the speakers triggers the playback of a poetic sound work, each one responding to and exploring the possibilities and contexts of the word “drought.”

The poetry featured in the installation are:

• Dirge (on drought) by K. Bradford (Art, Critical Studies MFA 14),
• Dry Spell or there is something wrong with all that power by Dan Bustillo (Art MFA 14),
• How to Worship a River by Neela Banerjee,
• The Vessel by Ebony Williams (Critical Studies MFA 12),
• Drought Prayer Loop by The Provisional Collective, and
• Circumstantial Conditions by Free Radicals (CalArts faculty Jen Hofer and Rob Ray).

The works all comment on California’s ongoing shortage of water and reflect on absence and the impact of scarcity on our lives.

On Thursday (April 28), the Center for Integrated Media hosts a reception for Dry Run at C108 on the CalArts campus.

The Dry Run modules are produced and designed by faculty Tom Jennings and Dave Mickey, and the audio is recorded by Jacob Goldman and Ray. The project was produced by Bradford and the Center for Integrated Media Director Tom Leeser, with production management by faculty Tyler Calkin.

Sign for ‘Dry Run.’