Low Tide is a Art and Archive Projectassembling a comprehensive survey of visual Bay histories for public re-presentation and preservation.
COLLECTING AND RADICAL ARCHIVING
Working mainly from our office donated by Bug Press in Arcata, CA, we are collecting material on Humboldt Bay to reproduce in exhibitions, books, and archives, incorporating photos, charts, maps and other graphics.
Our aim is to include the entirety of every document published to date, within evolving limits. We began in 2011 and expect to continue at least through 2015.
We also aim to design, or incite the design of, a new form of fully analog index. Using micro re-printing and expandable binding, we counter trends to replace printed catalogs and indexes with exclusively digital ones.
People from Bay Keepers to the Yacht Club and the Humboldt County Historical Society are helping us gather and sort materials. (See Support.)
Many documents have been, and more will be, lost without this effort. For instance, an extensive documentation on the dolosse reinforcement of Bay jetties we received from the Eureka office of California Sea Grant in June 2012. Taking these scattered documents from offices and special collections to make them viewable together not only assures that some will survive for future enjoyment and study, but it opens new ways to see and interpret the Bay.
Once complete, this visual Bay archive is intended for public use.
REPRINTING AND EXHIBITION
From the archive, we are producing art works, exhibitions and books. The first exhibition took place in Eureka, CA, opening December 13th, 2012. (See Events.)
Through mostly visual presentations—wide-ranging and immersive—these works focus on Humboldt Bay waters.
To our knowledge, no such treatment of any Bay currently exists. And in the case of Humboldt Bay, there is not even the simplest picture book available for serious reference or as a souvenir for visitors.
Though the reproduction in print, and other media, digital-like information densities, we strive to assemble the most robust types of archive and image platforms now possible. Ones that can't be erased by a thunderstorm, ones that may be encountered directly in space and that may be referenced over decades without ever making a software or hardware update.