1157 - Punctuated Asymptote by Sophia Chai

Listen as the artist Sophia Chai shares her background and the story behind the art exhibit before you titled Punctuated Asymptote.

Around late June 2020, I began imagining how this pathway, Discovery Walk, where you are standing now, might one day take shape. I came across an open call for a local artist to design a permanent outdoor art integration project for Discovery Walk. The idea of expanding the sidewalk into a space where people could pause, relax, and take in the features of this linear urban garden walk excited me immediately. Because a space like this can activate and facilitate gatherings, conversations, and connections.

One of the interesting challenges of this project was that the artwork wouldn’t take the form of a big monumental sculpture or mural. Instead something that would be integral, woven into an essential feature along the pathway of Discovery Walk. To better understand the site, I walked down this path. On these walks, I noticed something subtle yet striking. The gentle rise of the slope as I approached Discovery Square from Soldier’s Field, which then gradually descends as you continue north toward Mayo Clinic. This gentle sloping of the hill is an artifact of a geologic history that dates as far back as 12,000 years. During the most recent glaciation event, the ice strips came down from the north, landing much of the upper Midwest. When they melted, they left behind countless lakes, hence Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. But those ice strips never made it down to this region, where we are standing now, the Driftless Region. This is also why Olmsted County has no natural lakes. Instead, we have bluffs, ridges, and the beautiful Zumbro River flowing through downtown Rochester.

My artwork, Punctuated Asymptote, is composed of 62 pedestrian lights. You may have noticed how each one has a unique height. In fact, the shortest one by Discovery Square is only four feet tall. The tallest one next to Soldier's Fair Park is almost 15 feet tall. While they all have different heights, they all reach the same topographical elevation. Each day the lights begin turning on at sunset, starting with the southernmost light at 6th Street Southwest and turn off at sunrise, starting from 2nd Street Southwest. Each light turns on and off at half-second intervals. Just as each light has a unique height, each light will turn on and off at a distinct time. The entire turning on/off of the light will take about half a minute, like the heartbeat of a person walking. The color of these light poles references chroma key blue, often used in TV/video production where the visibility of the color makes it easy to select the background and swap it for a different one. The title of the artwork includes a word from geometry, an asymptote. An asymptote is a line that approaches a curve, getting infinitely close without ever touching it. From the point where the distance becomes imperceptible, the line stretches far infinitely in two directions.

Thanks for listening, be sure to explore all of the incredible artwork along the Rochester Arts Talking Trail.