In front of Discovery World there is a park, for the sake of this entry we are going to call it Discovery World Park, because I believe it really doesn't have a name. I am pretty good at internet searches, and I haven't found one yet. The park is full of surprising, fun, interactive art, which I have walked by at least a dozen times and have never thought to interact with it until a child taught me.
The most obvious piece of art is the "disco trees" — that is what my friend Jo calls them. They are 30' tall structures that look like leaves moving with the wind. From below you can change direction the leaves face and change the affect the wind has on the structure. The leaves make a light, pleasant noise when the wind amps up and the metal flutters and ripples almost like it's mirroring the water. Through research, I found out the name of this work is not actually disco trees but Wind Leaves and it was designed by Ned Kahn. Wikipedia has a nice article if you would like to read more about them.
Next, my personal favorite, is the leaf-shaped musical instrument that is played by dropping pebbles through the metal netting and between a plinko-like matrix of nails. Jo wanted to name this one the plinko-leaf-flute. I prefer just plinko-leaf for now but I intend to go back in daylight and find the real name. Anyway, what makes this so awesome is the sound it creates. Its like a huge rain stick. Speaking of which, I played it quite a few times, like 30. So maybe that is why we are finally getting some good rain today. While searching the web, I found others have called it the pebble chime. Its funny, because while we were standing there a kid was tossing rocks through it and I thought to myself, I know he shouldn't be tossing rocks at art but man that makes a cool sound. Then I watched a little longer, and found the sign that said he was doing exactly what the sculpture was made for. While researching online, I found many other people had done the same thing, often about to stop their children from "throwing rocks" until they realized their toddler had out smarted them.
Finally the part that I couldn't believe I have missed time and again are the benches. Each wooden bench also has a leaf like shape and faces inward, they are beautiful and they are comfortable and I thought that was that. But NO - there's more! Each bench has a set up drum sticks that allow you to play them like a xylophone! The best part about this xylophone bench, is the noise is at a pitch and volume that is very pleasing and not at all irritating to those who may want to sit, peacefully and watch the wind leaves.
For free you can have LOTS of fun and make LOTS of noise at this little park. As soon as this rain stops I suggest you head on out! I found a flickr account with awesome photos of this place. I have asked permission to post and as soon as I hear back I will add the photos.
Happy Friday! Cheers!
I want to be there
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