The Dublin connection served as the inspiration for two new ‘river boxes’ that the Dublin Arts Council activated on August 20 at Riverside Crossing Park, 6635 Riverside Drive, where Dublin artist Don Staufenberg greeted geocaching fans.
Like the other 18 river boxes along the banks of the Scioto River within the Dublin city limits, the two new river boxes are built into two permanent pieces of public art, entitled “Equal East” and “Equal West”, installed on both banks of the Scioto River. , The Dublin Link is a pedestrian bridge that spans the river and connects Bridge Park, on the east bank, with historic Dublin, on the west bank.
Staufenberg, 70, said Dublin Arts Council challenged him to use Dublin Link as a focus to illustrate Dublin’s past and future, as the bridge connects the city’s historic district with Bridge Park, a mixed-use development mixed that continues to be built today.
“I saw the bridge as the ‘equalizer,’ something that brought the two sides together and made them equal,” Staufenberg said.
“There is no new side or old side, good side or bad side, (but) equal sides.”
Commissioned by Dublin Arts Council, Staufenberg said each artwork has symbols and materials to illustrate the features of the city.
The city gave Staufenberg leftover materials that were used to make the Dublin Link railings used in the Equal East section, he said.
The Dublin Historical Society gave him planks from a barn in Coffman Park, which were used in the Equal West piece.
Dublin East is located in Riverside Crossing Park while its counterpart, Equal West, is at the bottom of the stairs that descend from the Bridge Street bridge, or state Route 161, on the banks of the Scioto River.
Both parts contain one of the city’s 18 current river boxes.
The Riverboxes are part of Dublin Arts Council’s ongoing participation in geocaching.
According to geocaching.com, geocaching uses global positioning systems, usually through a mobile geocaching app on a smartphone, to find a “cache,” an object that can be any number of things, that remains in place for others to discover. .
The website also includes an explanatory video on geocaching, as well as information on the origins, etiquette and practice of geocaching.
The first series of six boxes were deployed in 2007, and the number of river boxes has since grown to 18 with the addition of two new river boxes on Aug. 20, said Janet Cooper, DAC’s director of engagement.
The river boxes were originally established for educational purposes and in response to a community survey in which Dublin residents expressed a desire to learn more about the environment and ecology of the Scioto River, but were eventually transformed from ‘letter boxes’ to serve also as an ‘archive,’” said Cooper.
Each of the 18 river boxes is covered with original and unique artwork created by an individual artisan.
“While many cities have warehouses, we think ours is unique because it’s also a piece of public art,” Cooper said.
Dublin Arts Council publishes a ‘passport’ containing the name and location of every river box in Dublin. The location is described in the passport as a worded data, but also includes GPS coordinates and a QR code. The passport is available at the Dublin Arts Council offices, 7125 Riverside Drive, but can also be downloaded and printed.
When a person has collected all 18 stamps, the passport can be presented to DAC or mailed in to receive the organization’s geocoin, a coin specially minted to illustrate the completion of geocaching of the Arts Council’s river box series of Dublin, Cooper said.
Dublin Arts Council hosted the event on 20 August in conjunction with International Geocaching Day.
For further information about Dublin Arts Council’s riverbox series, visit dublinarts.org/riverboxes.
@ThisWeekCorvo