During twin crises of floods and droughts, how can Angelenos reimagine our relationship with water? Clockshop and Los Angeles-based artist Rosten Woo consider this in What Water Wants, a temporary art commission on the Los Angeles River. Woo activates a section of the Glendale Narrows channel in Elysian Valley to situate visitors within the hydrological networks of the greater Los Angeles Basin, one of the city’s most misunderstood and complex infrastructural systems. In a 30-minute experience, the audio tour moves between a guided meditation and speculative disaster horror, evoking multiple perspectives of the river’s history and future as if flipping through sonified apertures. The sound composition was designed for binaural listening to sonically transport listeners across geographic time and space, allowing them to experience water’s flows, speeds, and movements across the basin.

Clockshop’s three-year project with artist Rosten Woo is in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and California State Parks as part of the Bowtie Wetland Demonstration Project, a three-acre stormwater filtration and habitat restoration project along the banks of the LA River. The project will culminate in a permanent art commission at the Bowtie once it opens to the public.