FERRUCCIO SARDELLA
A Year In Weather
2019
Saigon Park, Mississauga ON
The public artwork explores our need to track and understand weather patterns and harness
the knowledge that is gained from this insight.
The installation is, at its essence, a celebration of our relationship with weather, natural systems and the built environment.
A Year In Weather appropriates the language and sensibility
of hieroglyphs. The artwork utilizes modern meteorological symbols to accurately chart the weather patterns for the year 2009 in the Mississauga area. 2009 was the year in which severe rainfall events inundated the Cooksville Creek Watershed, causing the creek to overflow. The flooding that resulted from the rainfall events was the catalyst for the decision to build ‘Lake Saigon’, the massive stormwater management pond within the park.
The artwork comprises four large steel panels that reflect
the four seasons. Within each of these panels, there are four vertical columns of hieroglyphs, each of which depicts the weather conditions that occurred during that month. Along
the top of the art piece are the corresponding cycles of the moon. Along the bottom of each panel, the average temperatures and precipitation are depicted. In the centre
of the installation is a tower capped with a weather vane that displays the symbols for the celestial bodies within our solar system. Along the bottom is a representation of wind patterns using current meteorological symbols. The tower incorporates lights that change colour depending on the barometric pressure of the day. Water levels within Lake Saigon rise
and fall in response to rainfall events within the area of the Cooksville Creek Watershed that is located upstream of
Saigon Park. Changes in barometric pressure foretell changes in the weather, making the art piece a dynamic predictor
of future meteorological events and water level fluctuations
in Lake Saigon.
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