Times Beach – 2017

no images were found

Teri Rueb

Description

Times Beach Nature Preserve is located in the Buffalo Outer Harbor, near the mouth of the Buffalo River.  Times Beach responds to the varied histories and futures of this unusual site, from its broad link to the ecosystem of the Great Lakes, to the role of these waters as a vital resource for Native Americans who have lived along the shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara River for thousands of years.  With waves of European settlement, the harbor became built up and eventually what was once open water became an urban beach.  Irish and Portuguese immigrants created a shantytown on “The Beach” in the mid-19^th Century, but residents were ultimately evicted in the early years of the twentieth century due to increasing industry.  With the rise of the Parks movement and demand for public spaces for leisure, “Times Beach” was designated a recreational beach in 1931 and named after the newspaper that promoted this new use.   However, the beach was soon closed due to industrial contamination.  Through the mid-twentieth century the site was used as a contained disposal facility for river and harbor dredge.  Today it has been restored as a nature preserve that supports a remarkable number of migrating birds and butterflies, as well as wild urban plants and animals.  Times Beach is a sound walk that weaves together sonic traces of these different moments, building a palimpsest of voices, field recordings and resonances that evoke the various temporalities and textures of the site.  Delivered as a free downloadable app for iPhone and Android devices, visitors are invited to wear headphones and discover an aural overlay that responds to their movement as they wander the boardwalks, seawalls and blinds of the preserve.

Site

◄123

© Teri Rueb 2017

Birds Eye View of Buffalo 1865. Times Beach area (center), across from terminus of Erie Canal (top center).

Credits

Software development:

Shawn Van Every, Walking Productions

Anthony Yanick, Golden Ratio Design

Graphic design: SOS Creative LLC

Additional sound design:  Ernst Karel

Coastline graphics: Justina Dziama

Web development: Mani Mehrvarz

Voices heard in the work include:

Sean Burkholder
Jay Burney
Tara Cornelisse
Paul Fuhrmann
Allan Jamieson
Shelley Seidman
Michael Vogel
Margaret Wooster

and the many other visitors and non-human voices encountered throughout the Preserve.

Sound credits

All recordings made on location by Teri Rueb with the following exceptions:

Cattail marsh recorded by Teri Rueb at Tifft Nature Preserve, Buffalo Outer Harbor

Beach voices and ambience recorded by Teri Rueb at Woodlawn Beach State Park, NY

Diaphone fog signal, Portland Bill Lighthouse, UK. Association of Lighthouse Keepers

Cello passages, performed by Stanzi Vaubel, recorded by Teri Rueb and Tony Yanick

Image credits

Main splash screen image:
Buffalo 1833 Lighthouse general view from southwest [1928]
Photographer unknown.
Courtesy of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.

The production of this work was supported by a fellowship from the UB Techné Institute and by a residency at the Ucross Foundation.

Times Beach was created in conjunction with the exhibition Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017 at the UB Art Gallery.

For further information about Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017 please visit:

WANDERLUST: ACTIONS, TRACES, JOURNEYS 1967-2017

Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017 is organized by the University at Buffalo Art Galleries and is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Special Thanks

Andrew Ainslie

We would like to thank the Friends of Times Beach who have worked tirelessly to protect and advocate for the Preserve.
Support the Times Beach Nature Preserve:

http://www.friendsoftimesbeachnp.org/