Bain Water Permits
Upon entering The Bain Project, each visitor was asked to step into the office to the left of the large lobby and obtain a permit, which was to be carried at all times in the facility. Safety information was provided. The address provided was used to mark that individual’s position on a large watershed map of the Raleigh area.
Thus was effected one of the most dramatically successful pieces of performance art at Bain – though it was just the forefront of a host of performance art moments and actions throughout the Bain experience. But it was the forefront, and set the tone on various levels for every person who came. More than a few were (hilariously) put off or disconcerted by the process, and the safety aspect of the process took on rich connotations with the lead paint controversy generated at the very end of the show. Conceived by Stacey Kirby and related to her Declaration Project, gracefully enacted by herself, Chris Wentworth, and Sarah Powers, who led the watershed mapping activity, the permit and mapping processes spoke volumes to the huge Bain issues of civic identity, institutional procedures, and watersheds. The latter is an intense personal interest for me, and the pictures below show my fascination with an aspect of the Bain project with which I was personally involved, by creating the simplified map of selected watersheds used in the project. Thank you, Stacey, Sarah and Critter for all the fun and your wonderful final product. You helped frame the Bain experience!
Issuing Permits
Voluminous Random Typing
Watershed Mapper
Below are (clickable) daily version of the watershed map
Day One Day Two
Day Three Day Four
- Day Three detail
Watershed Map detail
Watershed Information
Below are some of the Bain documents and catalogs on display in the permit room. By the time you got out of this room, you were well primed for the Bain experience.
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portrait by Guillermo Velasco
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