Slippery Slope

1990
Site-specific work at Artpark, Lewiston, New York, U.S.A.

Artpark lies alongside the Niagara River, down-stream from the Niagara Falls. Originally it was an Indian burial ground and then a toxic-waste dump, later becoming Artpark, a location for non-permanent art works. The chosen site was a spillway that fell steeply from a pathway to the river. At times medical detritus and waste streamed in toxic water from a nearby town down the concrete sluice to the river.

Chains were connected to the exit tunnel at the top of the fall from which thirty metal cut-outs of different species of shark were attached. Great White, Tiger, Thresher, Lemon, White-Tipped Reef; their shapes accurately from thin sheet metal. Three large black-framed mirrors stood en route down the slipway, mirroring the shark's attempted passage from tunnel to river. Along the bank thirty large black rubber inner-tubes lay to function as potential floatation devices. The sharks were hindered in their passage, attempting to head back to nature.