TIDE BED, versions 1 & 2,  2004-2005.  wood, steel, and Pacific Ocean.

This temporary public sculpture on the shore of the Pacific Ocean in L.A. was a direct attempt to link my bedroom and daily pattern of sleep with the rhythmic movements of the sea. I made a bed of wood and steel and anchored it on the shore at low tide. During 24 hours the tide rose and fell, alternately submerging and revealing the bed. My aim was to draw attention to the changing tides and spark a visual connection between the states of being above-water/under-water; waking/sleeping; and conscious/unconscious.  Afterwards, I slept on the bed every night for 2 years. 

Carl Jung wrote that “Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious.” Tide Bed offered a physical, material manifestation of this metaphor. Every night, when I climbed into bed and pulled up the covers, I remembered (even if just for a brief second) that this bed had been under the ocean, and that my small bedroom and domestic routines were also connected to larger systems in the natural world.