The Tap: Visioning the Ogallala Aquifer on the Llano Estacado. Landmark Arts Gallery at Texas Tech University School of Art and the Museum of Post-Agriculture at At’l Do Farms. Installation and Exhibition. 2021–2022.
The Tap: Visioning the Ogallala Aquifer on the Llano Estacado or The Tap is an artwork and gallery installation, presented by Landmark Arts at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas and at the Museum of Post-Agriculture at At’l Do Farms in Shallowater, Texas and is the first in a series of works that will focus on the Ogallala Aquifer. The piece is comprised of two cast polished brass water taps; one displayed at the Landmark Arts Gallery and the other connects directly to the Ogallala Aquifer, pumping water to a site at the Museum of Post-Agriculture. The exhibition includes moving image and sound material collected hundreds of feet below the ground level, as well as graphic displays of well data, an amplified stock tank full of aquifer water, and short clip from Gene Autry singing “Cool Water” from the Gene Autry Show in 1950. The Tap challenges viewers to think overtly and relationally about this water, about sustainable futures in our communities and throughout our commons.
