SONG/ LAND/ SEA: WAI Water Warning
Water Clock + Binakol Blessing Light Blades & Flags
June 2024- May 2025

Opening & Performance: Saturday, July 25, 2024 at 6-9 pm

Water Warning by interdisciplinary artist Lani Asunción is a public art and performative series focusing on climate crisis and the devastating results of global warming, sea levels rising and coastal flooding resulting in environmental racism connected to gentrification and displacement of communities resulting from the construction of the John F. Fitzgerald Espressway (1954-1959), and further impacted by the Big Dig (1991-2006), a mega-construction project which placed the Expressway underground and built a park on top, The Greenway, which opened in 2008. This work implores viewers to confront the realities of climate change and mobilize toward collective resilience and justice. Climate change is not a distant threat but an urgent reality, exacerbating existing inequalities and disproportionately impacting marginalized communities. Along the Greenway this installation resides across from Chinatown where the effects of environmental racism are keenly felt, with neighboring Roxbury and Dorchester facing the brunt of urban heat islands.

This work transcends mere aesthetics, serving as a call to action. Through its evocative symbolism and participatory nature, it implores viewers to confront the realities of climate change and mobilize towards collective resilience and environmental justice.

Water Warning emerges as a public art installation and performance series serving as a warning of environmental change, echoing amidst the accelerating climate crisis. As our earth undergoes rapid transformation, this work stands as a stark reminder of the profound shifts reshaping the coastline of the City of Boston.

At the heart of the installation is the Water Clock, that cradles at its center a nautical bell with the letters WAI or waiwai in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language) translates to water, which can also mean wealth and life force—this concept is embedded into a monumental water drop—a symbol of lamentation for the futures at stake. This bell, activated by the public and live performance, rings across the Greenway, and tolls a reminder of the paths ahead. Knotted sailors' rope can be used to ring the bell as a warning and reminder that flood mitigation needs to start now. Directly below lies a brass bowl, etched with 2070 projection renderings of Boston's vulnerable coastal areas showing what flood levels will be in the next 46 years. Surrounding these renders is I-Ching Water (Chinese divination and probability) with binary code of 0’s and 1’s that translates to ‘All That Is Solid Melts into Air’ lining the top rim. Each I-Ching Water lines measures years by 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 100 as rainfall marks the passage of time filling the inner depths to the bowl. 

Water Warning emerges as a public art installation and performance series serving as a warning of environmental change, echoing amidst the accelerating climate crisis. As our earth undergoes rapid transformation, this work stands as a stark reminder of the profound shifts reshaping the coastline of the City of Boston.

Binakol Blessing Light Blades + Flags | The flags and light blade designs are crafted from restructured US military camo juxtaposed with traditional Ilocano woven binakol designs from the Philippines. This design embodies waves of the ocean and offers protection against malevolent forces. This installation critiques the military-industrial complex and high-tech industries, whose contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and extractive practices propel the climate crisis forward.

Performance - Tabi Tabi Po Performance (May I Pass)

Tabi Tabi Po Performance (May I Pass)
July 25 at 6:00-9:00 pm

3 Sections:
I - Cleansing Waters (7:00-7:15 pm - 15 min.)
II - Moving Bodies of Water (7:15-7:45 - 30 min.)
III - Community Bodies (7:45-8:15 pm - 15 min.)

Performers/ Bodies of Water:
Lani Asunción
Cai Diluvio
Joanna Tam
Jimena Bermejo

Mezzo-soprano:
Pauline Tan

Musicians:
Forbes Graham - electronic horns
Treya Lam - percussion & sound movement
Trey Cregan - experimental electronics
Drew Barnet - percussion & on-site sound experimentation

Audio Reference: SONG/ LAND/ SEA Album 2023-2024