Pond:
A Symphony

On the far edge of a post-industrial site, a small retention pond dips below the horizon — the inverse of nearby mounds above. The soft basin, encircled by ruderal growth, is an oasis for insects, birds, amphibians, and mammals that leave traces and tracks in the dark, sandy loam.

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The pond is a confluence of infrastructures and entangled systems, amplified by its spatial context. The site (National Building Arts Center) is in Sauget, IL — a village incorporated by and for industry with a legacy of toxic contamination.
Like NBAC, the pond is an archive that receives and holds accumulations; its collection is material, industrial, and ecological.

The pond also holds space for interdisciplinary conversation and collaboration. Activities in, around, and in response to this site-within-a-site acknowledge the duality of ecological abundance and environmental complexity, and celebrate the persistence and resilience of its non-human inhabitants. It offers a place to contemplate what is preserved, what can't be undone, and what might be transformed for a regenerative future.