RedBall Project Scottsdale, Day One
Scotty, RedBall Assistant on Jan 15 2008 at 2:30 am | Filed under: Sites
And so it begins
As we awake for our first morning in the desert there is much speculation on what to expect from this community that the red ball is about to invade.
Its Sunday morning and it seems like everyone but the birds are quietly resting. My first morning in Arizona is greeted by a group of those blinking road construction signs that serenade the van in a chaotic yet minimalist form. Blink, blink, blink, blink…
As we drive towards our first location I can make out Camelback Mountain off to my right. It seems to have a grayish glow that pushesits self in front of the early morning stars that are floating in darkness.
We arrive at our site, which is a quiet bus mall in the city center. I come to find out it was designed artist Vito Acconci and remember seeing images of this site at a lecture I attended in Portland a few years back. The pictures did not do the space justice and I’m still not sure that Acconci’s structures did either. We unload the ball and set it in place.
I can’t believe that it’s been almost two years since I last saw it. Its cleaner than I remember but the battle scars from past installations remain. The silence of the space disappears as we power up the blower. The constant hum resonates off the cement that surrounds us.
As the ball inflates the slow change from dark to the early morning blue reflects off the ball; it’s subtle but mirror like. The shadows from the small trees also appear and look to be welcoming the ball in much thesame way a hand innocently touches the red ball for the first time. Busses are now appearing and people are getting off and transferring to other busses. A few walk across the square but do not seem to notice it. I’m guessing that itsway to early for anyone to appreciate it.
As the deep blue changes into that morning light the ballstands out in the abyss of gray and desert red concrete. The ball is so red in this environment that the green on the trees begin to jump at you like neon.
People start arriving to cheer on the marathon runners that pass in front of the ball. The viewers seem to look at the ball from a distance almost like voyeurs, but no one approaches it.
After a couple of hours the first runner come by. It’s a guy in one of those supped up wheel chairs. He was going so fast that I only was able to see the back of him for a brief moment. Soon there after a group of eight or so runners pass by looking like they where on a full sprint more so than the 19th mile of a marathon.
We watch many people go by, some running, some walking and some limping all with the same tired gaze yet at the same time a look of determination in hopes of finishing the race. Countless numbers of runners pass and then in a split moment it happened; a little girl not more than five years old made a full sprint towards the ball, her mom and dad closely behind her with camera in hand. She stops a foot or so away looking at this very large red object in front of her. She had this amazed look on her face that reminded me of a euphoric look a child gets when opening a gift during a birthday or Christmas and being overwhelmed with little kid excitement. Her mom catches up with her and stands beside her. The little girl is asking questions with a big grin on her face. I cannot hear what is being said but at the same time they reach out together and touch the ball while the father shoots images of the two. The little girl then made her way around the ball a couple of times running her hand on it for the entire length. Her parent’s stand just outside of arms reach with smiles on their faces. After a few minutes they grab the girls hand and walk off.
These are my new memories of the ball.
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