Drawing Text (center):
San Francisco Wharf Complex: Coral Orchid/Seamount / coral, basalt, peridotite, drip water-algae system / 90 ft.

Coral-Basalt Orchid/Seamount Element - top coral orchid structure constructed from cut paleo-coral and/or cast cement with coral surface. Lower basalt orchid structure constructed of cut pillow basalt. Bay water is envisoned as flowing over the surface of the structure, to form a seeping/dripping effect, growing new organic life, mimicing the symbiotic coral/algae system of living reefs.Orchid/Seamount structure metaphorically engages with the geologic/biologic origin and paleo-environment of the carbonate materials constituting the Calera limestone, the originating, primary type-material of San Francisco pier cement. Basalt orchid resonates with the volcanic sub-structure of the seafloor and sea mount environment underlying carbonate depositional environments.

Serpentinized peridotite ship element symbolizes the upper mantle substructure and metasomatic serpenization environment that underlies the basalt and coral plate structure of the ocean floor.

Drawing Text (center / continued):
San Francisco Wharf Complex: Sea Knot (Mesozoic/Holocene Seas) / glass, coral, basalt, Mesozoic & Holocene sea water / 90 ft.

Sea Knot Apparatus - glass tubing containing two interwoven “seas” related to the paleogeographic and contemporary provenence of the cement of the piers. Water of each “sea” dynamically circulating within their own system, symbolically engaged by the knot structure. Several variations of the knot are being studied.

Coral Ship Element - extensions of existing cement, support pilings and top ship-suggestive-form constructed from cut paleo-coral and/or cast cement with coral surface.

Mesozoic Sea - chemically, physically and biologically simulated seawater of the mid-Cretaceous Period, mid-Pacific Ocean, pumped from a concealed reservoir. This water is the theoretical paleo-depositional envionment of Calera limestone, the primary type-material of San Francisco pier cement.

San Francisco Bay Water - contemporary erosional environment of the cast cement “intrusive suite” of pier pilings and infrastructure. This water is extracted and circulated directly from the bay.

Pillow Basalt Ship Element - the lower ship-suggestive form constructed from theoletic basalt typical of oceanic spreading center origin.

Ship forms suggest the more than 2500 km and 90 million year plate-tectonic-driven journey of the carbonate materials from the mid-Pacific Ocean to the San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco Wharf Complex / Sym-bi-osis / Text Panel - 2008-2014
San Francisco Wharf Complex (SFWC) is a conceptual and physical site that consists of the structure, environment and history of the majority of the built San Francisco wharf/waterfront system and selected landfill areas from approximately Pier 1 at Fort Mason to Candlestick Park, as well as research, studies and proposals for artworks related to this sea/landscape developed from 2008 to the present. Many of these concepts were developed during a multi-year relationship with the Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, that included support from the National Science Foundation, Bernard Osher Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as the generosity of the Exploratorium and it’s staff. Works formally presented as conceptual proposals in Sym-bi-osis: San Francisco Wharf Complex: Coral Orchid/Seamount, 2012, and San Francisco Wharf Complex: Sea Knot (Mesozoic/Holocene Seas), 2012, are examples of a multitude of works generated from this process. The video, San Francisco Wharf Complex, also included in Sym-bi-osis, presents selected, generative images of earlier work and concepts from the mid-1970’s to 2007, followed by representative images of the multi-phase research and proposal process for SFWC, 2008-2012.