video#34

video#36

This video was photographed in March of 2012 in San Diego, California, United States. The video was photographed at ground level on the lawn adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center in downtown San Diego. The subject of the video is a metal sculpture called Wind Palms. Erected in 2008, this sculpture is a set of three metallic 'trees' with rotating semicircular tops. The builder was Ned Kahn, an artist who has similar metal artwork in many cities around the world. For this outdoor setup in San Diego, hundreds of metallic strips dangle from the semicircles atop the trees. When blown by the wind, the tree-tops swivel about their individual axes (metallic tree trunks, if you will). The overall effect vaguely resembles the motion of three palm trees flexing back and forth in the wind. But in this case, the metal trees' tops are what move back and forth. Once each top rotates horizontally around 180 degrees, it hits its built-in limit, and then it rotates 180 degrees backward again. When the wind is calm, the tree-tops don't rotate at all.

The sound of the metal strips (the leaves or fronds) differs from that of real palm trees. The slightly rigid strips strike each other with gentle clangs.

This day was a cool gloomy overcast day, but not rainy. In the backdrop is part of San Diego Harbor, with a few boats chugging by in crisscrossing paths. Pedestrians are walking on the adjacent concrete walkways. A blonde woman in a red coat walks purposefully rightward. A few bicyclists are seen going this way and that on the pathways. The three metal trees are surrounded by cement seats arranged in a circle. Nobody is sitting there today, but one could imagine people sitting on these seats on a sunnier day. A beautiful green manicured lawn is in the foreground. The metallic trees are not as pretty as real palm trees, but these metal trees are a tad mesmerizing as they move back and forth. The artist could have chosen a chrome-like reflective surface for the trees, but instead picked a more subdued gray color. These metal palm trees are a different twist on the usual form of an organic tree, and the artwork employs the ocean wind to good effect. Perhaps this is what trees would look like on a robot's planet?!

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