Wave Rings

Statement from the workshop `The spirit and power of water held at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Marseilles, France (8 Nov. 2001), in which the Japanese artist and researcher Nodoka Ui presents Wave Rings (1998; illus.), an interactive installation that allows participants to communicate with each other by means of sounds and rings produced in water. He explains that public water supplies were traditionally at the heart of the daily existence of Japanese people, evaluates the social impact of modern water delivery systems and of the fountain concept imported from Europe during the Meiji period (c.1870), and briefly describes the structure which he devised in order to invite reflection on the original function of water in a public space.