Daniel Eatock

Convergent Streams
plastic cup, translucent plastic water container, and video documenting collection of water from 34 drinking fountains, one in each building on the ASU campus (4 minutes, 37 seconds)

For his show Extra Medium at the Catherine J. Smith Gallery at Application State University, Eatock inspired by the presence of so many drinking fountains (there are a total of eight in the gallery alone and over 300 across the ASU grounds) Eatock created a unique and unprecedented mixture comprised of one glass of water from a fountain in each of the 34 buildings on campus. The collected water was held in a translucent plastic container from which Eatock drank during the installation of the work in the gallery.

The process of collecting the water is documented by a videotape that records the filling of the cup at each fountain. Eatock established a strategy for editing the videotape in camera as it was made: the camera RECORD button is turned on and stays on only while the water is flowing from the spigot. As a result, the flow of water from the drinking fountains into the cup and its documentation are simultaneous. Richard Torchia