"Water: Three States" is part of the annual Art in Agriculture series investigating topics in agriculture, food, the environment or natural resources, according to the exhibition's Web site.
The fall 2009 exhibit has three contributing artists, Xavier Cortada, Martha Whittington and Xiatong Wang.
In the back corner of the gallery, there is a video playing of young community members planting mangroves in Miami as a part of Cortada's project. His display at Auburn consists of two framed pieces depicting mangroves and a wall of clear plastic cups filled with water and growing mangroves.
"...[The seeds] wash up and take root on a Florida sandbar and build stable land mass for other life to take hold," Cortada said.
"Florida Mangroves" was Cortada's first work based around mangroves and was commissioned for Florida Hispanic Heritage Month. It was unveiled in 2003.
Once the display of Cortada's project is finished, the seedlings will be replanted on Biscayne Bay, according to a pamphlet about his project.
In another corner of the room there are three pairs of long, thin yellow sticks attached to the wall at one end. The sticks meet some foot-long distance away from the wall in the point of a triangle. There is a switch by the wall that activates the exhibit, called "Dowsing." Upon the flip of a switch, the sticks tap each other, powered by an electrical mechanism.
This is the work of Martha Whittington. These works "suggest the practice of dowsing, the art of divining hidden water sources," according to Art in Agriculture's Web site.
Another part of Whittington's exhibit is a maroon-colored rod lifted off the ground at one end by a circling mechanical device. This portion of her work is lifted off the ground in a rotating motion by a mechanical device, much like other portions of her exhibit. The rod periodically taps the floor, which is dotted with varying sizes of circular mirrors.
The remainder of the exhibit is a series of chromogenic prints by Xiaotian Wang. These prints are created to evoke the recent changes in the chemical make-up of the river, according to the literature in the gallery.
"Water: Three States" will be on display in Biggin Gallery, Room 101. The gallery will display the exhibition on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Sept. 29.
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