- A series of public art projects in Utah are bringing the Great Salt Lake to life.
- As the lake shrinks, it threatens the region’s air quality, economy and wildlife.
- Art can inspire people to take action to save the disappearing Great Salt Lake.
As dusk fell in downtown Salt Lake City, I joined thousands of people streaming into Memory Grove Park below the Utah State Capitol. The draw? A two-story-high white sphere surrounded by powerful speakers.
The park was about to light up in a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds as part of a free public art installation called A Symphony of Disappearing Sounds for the Great Salt Lake.
My jaw dropped as the show began. The sphere glowed in a swirl of mesmerizing patterns, moving in time to layers of pulsing sound. I could pick out the calls of shorebirds, the buzz of insects, the wind through aspen leaves and the bass of hooves.
This dazzling half-hour spectacle was more than simply a fun night out—it served as a response to one of the American West’s most pressing environmental crises. The Great Salt Lake has shrunk to less than half its historic size, threatening air quality, wildlife habitat and regional industries.
Along with a dozen other art projects, the symphony translates the lake’s decline into something people can see, hear, feel—and, ultimately, act on.
Imagining A Hopeful Future For The Great Salt Lake
The symphony ran for ten nights this spring as the capstone project of a public art initiative called Wake The Great Salt Lake. The artwork was intended to help people “imagine hopeful futures for the lake” rather than doom and gloom scenarios, said Felicia Baca, executive director of the Salt Lake City Arts Council.
“Science and data don’t always reach people the way that art can,” Baca told me as we sat on the grass watching the sphere light up. “We wanted people to experience environmental change not just intellectually, but physically and emotionally.”
Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, the Arts Council commissioned 12 local projects over the past year and a half. These ranged from theatrical plays to murals, dance performances to podcasts, signature cocktails to a roving phone booth that collects personal stories.
Together, these art projects drew attention to the disappearing Great Salt Lake, and changed hearts and minds about the lake’s plight.
Art Can Motivate People To Grow A Shrinking Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the Western Hemisphere’s largest saline lake. As it shrinks, the lake’s decline is raising alarm bells for millions of people who live in the region.
As the lake recedes, Salt Lake City and surrounding communities face a host of potential problems. The low lake level and increasing salinity threaten to disrupt economic mainstays like agriculture, tourism, mineral extraction and brine shrimp harvesting. Exposed sediments and dust reduce air quality and threaten public health. Plus, a shrinking lake threatens to upend the ecosystem, disrupting the migration and survival of 10 million birds.
The good news is that Utahans still have time to halt or even reverse the Great Salt Lake’s decline by using less water.
The dazzling half-hour symphony I watched in Memory Grove Park will hopefully inspire people to help save the lake that defines their home. It was created by internationally renowned Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson in collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Koreless.
“While we are in an environmental crisis and falling short of delivering the right results, I do think that joy can be a part of campaigning,” Eliasson said in a March 18 press conference.
Listening To A Disappearing Ecosystem
Eliasson’s team made multiple visits to Salt Lake City over the past year and a half, working closely with local scientists, water lawyers, and members of the Shoshone Nation to understand the lake’s complex ecological and cultural significance.
The team captured 150 recordings from around the Great Salt Lake, including sounds from more than 100 species like brine flies, migratory birds and grazing bison.
“Their non-human voices are amplified and translated into rhythmic patterns accessible to human ears, so that the lake can be perceived by residents and visitors in a new light—perhaps even for the first time,” Eliasson wrote in an Instagram post on March 30.
The resulting soundscape was dynamic, overlapping and sometimes discordant, much like the ecosystem itself.
Visually, the installation was just as immersive. Projected light rippled across the sphere, evoking the flight path of birds, the crystalline shapes of salt, the flutter of dust or snowflakes, and the rapid movements of tiny insects.
Art Inspires Awe And Action To Save The Great Salt Lake
The symphony left me in awe of the ecosystem around me, as well as the power of humans to create marvelous masterpieces. I was not alone. Thousands of people exclaimed and clapped as the show ended, chatting about the art as they left the park with their blankets and flashlights.
It was clear the symphony struck a powerful chord in Salt Lake City.
Art alone cannot refill the Great Salt Lake. But it can show people what they stand to lose. It can motivate them to learn more, rewrite policy, call their legislators or use less water before it’s too late. It can invite people to participate in how the lake’s future unfolds.
“Saving the lake is a team sport,” Baca told me. “Whether you’re in the legal community, activist community, art community, or own a business downtown, everybody’s chipping in to do their part—and all of those parts feel important to the cause.”
