Sand is damage, damaged and damaging. Seemingly mundane and abundant, sand is in fact embedded in a dangerous cycle of extraction and deposition. Through the process of dredging sand grains are sucked out of rivers at an alarming rate to feed the ever-expanding concrete urban machine.
To address this form of damage then we must instead make it visible - to the extent of hyper visibility. The CUT is an intervention aiming to leverage the visibility of sand.
My proposed space is then a public theater and forum where sand is the subject, the medium and the setting for community discussions around managing the river. It also becomes a space of memory and monitoring where the changes enacted by the shifting sands can be documented and observed. The CUT is made habitable by means of a kit of parts that are scavenged from the abandoned mining sites and dredge infrastructure left behind in the wake of sand extraction. These pavilions include viewing platforms, steps, seating areas and performance spaces. These forms embed the history of sand extraction and damage in the landscape.
