Fountain X (2016)
Water, Water pump, Bucket
Fountain X appears as an unspectacular bucket, one that is commonly found on building sites or in gardening sheds throughout England. At regular intervals throughout the day, a short, but dramatic burst of water sprays from the bucket straight into the air. Fountains were historically developed for functional purposes, providing societies with access to clean drinking and bathing water, but with the advancement of technology, their purpose has transformed into decoration and sensation. The inspiration for this work draws specifically from a fountain of similar scale from a Guangzhou shopping mall. Underscoring the impracticality of this architectural feature, this particular fountain was accompanied by a worker who mopped up the excess water that overshot the fountain’s base following each spouting. At Cass Sculpture Foundation, the mundane receptacle is intentionally inadequate in scale to accommodate the spectacular stream emitted from the fountain. It sits as a humble reminder of the use of fountains in historical landscape design and the enjoyment such features can still bring to their environments, despite their futility.
