Signal

Signal. Tom Loughlin. Tom Loughlin’s sculpture repurposes steel girders and a light salvaged from the original East Span of the Bay Bridge which was opened in 1936., damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and taken out of service in 2013. Demolition of the original East Span was completed in 2018. The replacement span can be seen to the southeast of this location., This sculpture is composed entirely of bridge building material and weighs more than 22 tons. The steel is vibrating at is natural resonating frequency, like a tuning fork. This vibration is initiated by electronic equipment inside the sculpture and enhanced by the steel. Elastomeric pads between the steel and the concrete bases allow the ring to vibrate freely, a small departure from their intended use – to isolate bridge columns from roadway movement., As an artist, Loughlin is interested in human-made systems and how they function, fail, and misfire. He explores how we make use of our unpredictable systems. About Signal, Loughlin says, “I hope visitors will find themselves thinking about our place in the natural landscape and the tools we build to help us traverse it.”