This color photograph features a large-scale, sculptural installation, viewed from below. Loops of ball chain hang down from an aluminum base, which is suspended below a concrete ceiling in an atrium space. The sculpture is metallic: varying shades of silver, gold, copper, and bronze. A bronze and glass balcony appears in the lower half of the photo, behind the sculpture. Because of the unusual perspective, looking up at the artwork, the photograph looks somewhat abstract.

California Water Rights

  • Adrien Segal
Year2017
Dimensions34 x 16 x 32 feet (10.3 x 4.8 x 9.7 meters)
MediumAluminum, ball chain
CreditCourtesy of the artist. Photo by Mario Gallucci.

California Water Rights, a monumental installation by interdisciplinary artist Adrien Segal, offers a visual representation of water allocation data that provokes questions about environmental sustainability and social inequality. This suspended, immersive sculpture spans three stories in an atrium above two diagonal stairways. Strands of color-coded ball chain are draped above and around the stairways, hung from a meandering river, which mimics the flow of people moving through the space. The 1,072 strands represent the 1,072 largest permitted water users in California. The length of each strand corresponds to the amount of water allocated to each entity, and the colors of the ball chain indicate the types of entities (governmental, corporate, individual, etc.). Each ball represents one acre-foot of water, or just under 326,000 gallons.

As the viewer moves through space and explores Segal's work, this complex information is brought into the realm of bodily experience, imparting an intuitive understanding of the immense amount of water that is used in California. The installation engages viewers with experiential knowledge about how we as a society choose to manage and commodify water, a shared and highly precious resource.

The left side of this image is filled with a close-up color photograph of ball chain loops, in various lengths and metallic shades. The ball chain is attached to an aluminum structure, from which the loops hang down. The right side of the image shows a chart, decoding the meaning of the ball chain colors. Silver balls represent state government entities (53% of water permits); bronze balls represent corporate entities (21% of water permits); gold balls represent individuals (13% of water permits); copper balls represent LLCs (3% of water permits); and so on.
This image is a black-and-white architectural rendering: an elevation of the atrium space, with the artist’s large sculptural installation featured prominently in the foreground in front of two staircases.
This image is a black-and-white architectural rendering: a plan of the atrium space seen from above, with the artist’s large sculptural installation snaking through the space from left to right.

California Water Rights is a permanent installation at a digital lab in San Francisco. Art consultant for the project: Heidi McBride & Co. Data source: California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB).