Shimmer, a new piece in Italy

Shimmer has its genesis in the mediaeval garden at Ninfa, south of Rome, where at one point water appears under a shallow layer of grass to become a fully fledged stream. It is that point of emergence that I find so intriguing and mysterious.

A shallow gradient of lawn in a garden near Orvieto in Umbria suggested how I might create my own interpretation of this phenomenon, where water flows by gravity over a smooth surface.

The hardware to harness the idea consists of an elliptical stainless steel tray, 4 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, set just below the level of the surrounding grass.

This forms an anamorphic projection where, from the upper and lower ends of the site, it appears to the eye as a circular disc of shimmering water.