Rivers and Tides
Rivers and Tides (2001) Documentaries are often prosaic lectures or moralistic exhortations. Rivers and Tides hypnotizes as it lets us see the construction processes and ephemeral works of the Scottish landscape artist, Andy Goldsworthy. He does not make images of landscapes, but uses materials found within landscapes to create ephemeral structures that may last no longer than a few hours. The ordinary world of icicles, sticks, stones, streams, leaves, and rocks become raw materials for an array of beautiful, temporary structures that we can make—while indifferent to whether such things lasts. In fact, their return to disarray is not to be mourned, but is here recorded and celebrated as a part of nature’s entropic beauty. Goldsworthy can make us believe in ourselves as the children who built sandcastles, piled up rocks, or welded together pieces of ice with water. And then we walked away. The documentary film or photograph here is essential to such art, because that is the sole means permitting such things to be seen by those who are not present at their creation. John Shelton Lawrence Emeritus, Morningside College j.shelton.l@gmail.com
