Wet Portal
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see. - Taoist proverb

It is water, in every form and at every scale, that saturates the mind. All the water that will ever be is, right now. - National Geographic, October 1993

Overview
The purpose of the wet portals is to provide a visceral connection between people half way around the world in a way that is both curious and beautiful.
Abstract
Wet portals are a combination of the feng shui concepts of the reflecting pool and the mirror. The wet portals are basically octogan-shaped pools of water. There are two of them, one in San Jose, one in another city on the Pacific Rim. Like mirrors, they reflect the sky - but they also will display the sky above the pool in the other city. The input of visitors to the portals results in surface turbulence that is experienced by visitors to both portals, resulting in an almost ghostly presence of the real time visits of people on both sides of the portal.
Description
We propose to construct and install two wet portals, one in San Jose and one in Weihai1, China's third-largest port town. Weihai has been selected because of its geographic location – it is on almost the same latitude as San Jose - and, like San Jose, it is of emerging importance to global trade and developing marketplaces. Our goal is to highlight the impact the actions of an individual have on the circumstances of individuals in far away places. In fact, there are so many cities with interesting similarities and differences to San Jose, that are also located on the Pacific Rim, that many other cities could also be considered.

Shaped like feng shui mirrors, these wet portals are reflecting pools that act as windows between two parts of the world, displaying the qualities of light in the sky in one location on the bottom of the pool at the other location. Although the origin of the concept is Taoist, Feng shui mirrors have become ubiquitous thoroughout the world, one finds them in Latin America, all over North America, and in Europe. Mirrors in feng shui practice are meant to protect against visible and invisible threats. However, now that this practice has been spread to other countries and is being reinterpreted by other cultures, the device is routinely scoffed at or mocked by designers and pop culture. Like the dadaists of the early 20th century, our use and recombination of the feng shui mirror with an equally ubiquitous and ”watered-down” reflecting pool is an attempt to reclaim these forms and allow them to resonnate as a collage of form, culture, and the input of visitors. Technology in this case should be as invisible as possible in its role of facilitator to natural human interaction and perception.

The bottom of each pool acts as a translucent screen to transmit light and images from one basin to another. Each portal will be equipped with a video projector and a camera. The video camera will be mounted below the bottom of the basin, positioned to project the optimal quality image onto the surface of the bottom of the pool. Mounted at the center of each basin, the submersed camera provides a live video feed to a projector located below the screen in the other location. Alternate designs could use led screens or midi flood lights depending on budget. As a visitor approches a portal, their silhouette against the sky will be visible in the screen at the other portal. A visitor approaching a portal, will not see the change in the lighting conditions they are creating in the other portal, instead, they will observe the sky conditions and the silhouettes (if any) of people around the portal at the other location. As a visitor comes up to the edge of the water, ripples will emanate from the edge nearest them and move over the surface of the water. If the visitor walks around the edge of the portal, the ripples they create will always come from the edge nearest them. More visitors means more ripples on the surface of the water of the pool emanating from the points along the edge they are standing by, and more visible silhouettes in the portal at the other location. Ripples from viewers on either side of the connection will effect the water surface on both pools.

By selecting a location on the opposite side of the world we hope to optimize the disparity in lighting to invite people to wonder why such unexpected colors of light are coming from the base of the pool. Some night lighting might need to be added if there is insuficient illumination to produce a noticible contrast.

Illustration
Technical
The Pre-fab pool made of wood, rubber and acrylic. 2 video projectors, 2 laptop computers, 24 servos and 4 controllers, 2 webcams. Wide angle lenses. Internet connection on both sides. Perhaps some additional control of location in terms of lighting at night, baffling existing lights or adding some.
Example of interaction