SoS (SINK OR SING) is a new series of artworks by the collaborative team Mary Ellen Strom and Ann Carlson (Carlson/Strom). SoS is a response to inland and coastal flooding, honoring the intricate aquatic ecosystems, landscapes, and human communities forever changed by the waters’ force.
The first iteration of SoS will be produced by The Flynn Center for the Arts in Burlington, Vermont. SoS will take place on and with the aquatic system of Lake Champlain. This temporal artwork will be sited on a floating platform positioned 20 feet from Lake Champlain’s shore, designed by master production technician Bill Ballou. Twelve humans stand on this platform enacting gestures, movements, sounds and stillness. The “live-act” combines sculptural aesthetics with a call-and-response vocal and movement score that engages the spectators on the shore. Over a 30-minute duration, the platform gradually descends beneath the water’s surface, disappearing. After a pause, the platform raises and the humans re-emerge, changed.
SoS is a call born of water— a summons and a reminder that water moves through us, binds us, undoes us. SoS honors fragile ecosystems, shifting landscapes, and the communities reshaped by water’s power.