Jesse Seay

Jesse Seay, Mechanical Tide, 2007.

What do you get when you combine an 8' x 5' piece of poplar wood and several thousand stainless-steel balls? The ocean. When a visitor sets off the motion sensor on Jesse Seay’s amazing installation Mechanical Tide, a motor makes the wooden “beach” tilt back and forth for 12 minutes, causing the ball bearings on top of it to roll back and forth along its carved grooves. The cascading spheres look like quicksilver and generate the soothing sound of waves. (A few spill over the corners and plop into waiting coffee cans with a clank, which slightly breaks the spell.)

Unfortunately, there are no interpretive materials on hand for viewers. We called  Chicago-based Seay, who explains that Mechanical Tide was inspired by pachinko balls and her experiments rolling balls along old wooden dowels she had at home. Having spent much of her life living near the coast in Florida; Yokohama, Japan; and San Francisco, she was impressed by how much the motion of the balls resembled the tide. (Seay asked Oyango Oketch, a former SAIC classmate, to fabricate the wood for this version; kinetic sculptor Christopher Furman assisted with the mechanical components.)

Mechanical Tide is fascinating because it allows for randomness not often seen in a gallery: As the wood seesaws, the balls constantly arrange themselves in new ways. One only wishes there were more sound projects to experience, particularly because the installation seems a little lonely in the Audible space. By revealing an unexpected recipe for a familiar noise, Seay’s work makes us reconsider the daily soundtrack we take for granted.—Lauren Weinberg