WaterLines: RiverBank

Chestertown, MD, April 15 - 17, 2015

Linking the vacant Chestertown Bank and the Chester River, the sonic installation and performance, WaterLines: RiverBank fused art, science, and social history to explore and surface relationships between the Chesapeake Bay watershed, its tributary the Chester River, and the historic city of Chestertown. The multimedia installation transformed the vacant Chestertown Bank into a “world of rippling light and sublimely meditative sound” evoking the connections, interdependency and exchange between river and town. Connecting the vacant bank building and the Chester River, the installation transformed a rigid, formal space originally designed to reassure investors into a place that questioned our relation to natural systems. WaterLines: RiverBank brought different communities together through a collaborative, creative process that provided a new pathway for surfacing and addressing the ecological, economic and social challenges Chestertown faces.

Partners: Aleksandra Vrebalov, Composer; Cassie Meador, Choreographer; Jenifer Wightman, Visual Artist/Biologist; Shane Meador, Videographer; Austin Raimond, Design Assistant, Video Projection; Lighting Design Assistance: Debra Gilmore; Performers & Contributors: Matthew Cumbie & Dante Brown, Dance Exchange; Biologist Martin Connaughton, Historian Adam Goodheart, Gospel Singer Irene Moore, Waterman Alan Johnson, long-time residents Ruby Johnson and Armand Fletcher, Arts Activist Leslie Prince Raimond, and Planner Kees de Mooy; Video documentation: Brian Palmer; Photography: Zachary Z. Handler; Support: SANDBOX, Washington College; led by Alex Castro, Director and Sean Meade, Assistant to the Director.