August 15, 2013: 11:04am – 11:52pm
12 hours, 48 minutes
live performance + 9 photos
  • 11:06am
  • 1:59pm
  • 2:54pm
  • 4:39pm
  • 5:54pm high tide!
  • 6:53pm
  • 7:45pm
  • 8:24pm
  • 9:20pm

36.5 / Bass Harbor was a spontaneous poetic gesture that came out of months of contemplation about the parallel between an individual struggle to survive on a daily basis and the struggle for humanity to survive in the face of sea-level rise. 21 other artists witnessed that initial performance.

 

“While in the water in Maine, I realized that this project was the beginning of a series.  I made a commitment to myself to do the second iteration exactly six months later and the third iteration exactly one year later.”

  • testing the depth of the water with a pole on Tuesday
  • testing the chair placement on Wednesday morning
  • testing the waters on Wednesday afternoon
  • the mud flats beneath chair at low tide
  • "waiter/wader/water service" brought liquids once an hour
  • "waiter/wader/water service" became more challenging as the day progressed
  • vitals and other important information hung on the wall of the barn
  • 11:52pm dismount from chair

36.5 / Bass Harbor

Bass Harbor, Maine, U.S.
by Sarah Cameron Sunde

with Barn Arts Collective

36.5 / Bass Harbor (part 1)  was made possible with support from Mohawk Arts Collective and the entire gang at The Hamilton Project: Byron Asher, Dan Bourque, Jillie Mae Eddy, Paul Eddy, Sophia Holtz, Jenna Horton, Peter Gage, Karen Lamb, Elise LeBreton, Cherie Magnello, Jabu Mickle-Molefe, Ben Moniz, Liz Morgan, Nice Panit Chantranuluck, Brittany Parker, Dan Rogers, Andrew Simon, Maridee Slater, Jessica Smith, Liz Thaler, Luke Wygodny.

“On Monday, August 12, 2013,
I was sitting on the rocks by a tidal bay in Maine,
thinking about New York City’s current relationship to water
and the contemporary relationship of art to suffering and sacrifice.
The tide was rising and I marveled at how quickly the environment changed.
Rocks were being swallowed whole.
Oh, the strength of the moon!
My foot was soon underwater and it looked other-worldly.
I imagined a human being in the middle of the bay, water slowly moving upward.
I imagined my own body being swallowed and then the water subsiding, leaving me bare.
It had to be done – this was urgent!
Thursday, August 15 was three days away.
It would be my ½ birthday – an ideal moment to begin this new measurement of time.”