Wave Organ
Attraction · Marina District, California
An acoustic sculpture standing on the jetty that shelters the small boat harbour, made of 25 organ pipes of PVC and concrete set at varying elevations, so that what you hear changes with the tide. San Francisco's Civic Art Collection records it as accession number 1111.2, created in 1986, at 83 Marina Green Drive, in granite, concrete, marble, brick and pipes.
History
The concept was developed by Peter Richards and installed in collaboration with the sculptor and master stone mason George Gonzalez. Richards took the idea from Bill Fontana's recordings made at a vent pipe of a floating dock in Sydney, received a National Endowment for the Arts planning grant in 1980, and showed a prototype as part of the New Music '81 Festival. Construction began in September 1985, seven months after Frank Oppenheimer's death, was completed in May 1986, and the piece was dedicated to his memory that June. The jetty was built with material from a demolished cemetery, which is where the carved granite and marble in the sculpture came from.
Visit
83 Marina Green Drive, San Francisco, CA
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