Arlington County in Virginia is lucky to have a site specific sculpture by
Nancy Holt. It sits on a traffic triangle and a tiny pocket park in Roslyn, the section of Arlington closest to Key Bridge. It consists of a tunnel, giant concrete spheres, pools and metal poles and metal plates. This is a very urban area and mostly the sculpture is viewed on a drive by basis.
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| View from traffic island to pocket park |
Once a year on August 1, at 9:32 am the sun aligns with the sculpture to cast shadows that perfectly match the metal plates that project out from the spheres and the poles. It is Arlington's little Stonehenge.
I had admired the sculpture for years before learning about the shadow connection. And once I knew, I wanted to see the phenomenon. For years I have tried to show up for it, but I am either out of town, or busy, or I just forget. For the past two years I have had it on my electronic calendar in the hopes that it would get me there. This year I had a contractor showing up at 8:00, but that wouldn't really interfere. The heavy rains took a break and the sun was shining. I had no choice but to hop on a bike and go.
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| Tunnel from park to sidewalk |
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| This is where the shadow magic happens |
My phone told me the event was at 9:00, but I didn't arrive until 9:06. A few people were hanging around the sculptures. I parked my bike and walked over to someone. "So I missed it?" "No" she smiled, "it's at 9:32." Thank god I had entered the time wrong, or I probably would have missed it. I am always overly optimistic about travel time.
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| The shadow is almost aligned with the steel plates on the ground |
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Anyway, people gathered, it was an interesting mix of office people, art people, tourists and a group on a walking tour. Cars at the traffic light asked what we were doing; the sun occasionally popped out from behind the clouds and showed us how close we were getting to alignment. I saw at least one person I know.
The moment arrived: people snapped pictures, people clapped. The funny thing is, taking a picture is kind of pointless: you are photographing a shadow that has disappeared. The picture looks the same as an overcast day photo. We are all so attuned to photographing events, even the ones that we only need to experience, that we just can't help ourselves.
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| Okay now it's aligned |
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The walking tour guide spoke a few words, my two favorites being
Radical Pedestrianism. His idea of people daring to explore the world on foot. Then he handed the megaphone to a representative from the Nancy Holt Foundation. She talked about how pleased Nancy was with the sculpture. Her favorite part being when she saw children using their hands to paint water from the pool onto the spheres and touching the art.
It wasn't exactly a druid moment, but I feel happy that I went. It cost me about 45 minutes of time and a sweaty bicycle ride. I have photographs that show nothing, but that's not the point. It's a moment in time to experience, it doesn't need to be recorded on a camera. The sculpture does that itself. It is a record of time - August 1st, 9:32 AM - in the physical world.
