Echo Dynamics

Blending the vocabularies of sculpture and landscape architecture, Mikyoung Kim has created an artwork that enhances the formality of the courthouse and its grounds while also establishing a human-scaled contemplative space. Echo Dynamics, a stainless steel and water piece, is neither traditional fountain nor sculpture, but rather reflects the artist's desire to transgress the boundaries of disciplines and forms.




Conceived in sculptural terms - Kim envisioned a pebble dropped in water with the rings emanating outward from a central point - the work shapes and is shaped by its surroundings.　 The curved entry to the building generates the arcing lines that are echoed in the forms of the artwork and continue in landforms across the lawn down to the corner of Capitol Avenue and Broadway. Thin sheets of water moving through the stainless-steel troughs animate the plaza both visually and aurally. The surface of each trough contains diagonal shaped weirs, which direct the flow and create a ripple effect.　The eight troughs interlace, making it possible to stand amidst them and hear the sound of water spilling from one level to the next.




Belying assumptions about contemporary design and materials, Echo Dynamics provides a poetic and cooling microclimate in the city's intense summer heat.　The arching trees that surround the work and the nearby seating encourage people to stop, think, talk, and enjoy this civic plaza in Little Rock.