VANCOUVER, Wash. – John Barber, faculty member of the Creative Media & Digital Culture program at Washington State University Vancouver, will create a sound installation for the 100th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Interstate Bridge between Vancouver and Portland.
The 15-minute piece will be presented during the celebration, which takes place Feb. 11 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Red Lion Jantzen Beach in Portland, Ore.
Barber’s sound installation, “A Mighty Span," imagines a live radio broadcast from the bridge the day it opened, Feb. 14, 1907. With voice actors and sound effects, the broadcast recreates the sounds of the opening ceremonies, including ribbon cutting, marching bands, speeches, and a parade of pedestrians, automobiles and streetcars back and forth across the bridge.
The Interstate Bridge, also known as the I-5 bridge, opened after nearly two years of construction. It was the first bridge to connect Portland and Vancouver across the Columbia River and only the second to span the river. The first was in Wenatchee, Wash., completed in 1908.
PDX Bridge Festival, along with Ten Bridge Partners, Red Lion and the Oregon Historical Society, invited Barber to participate in the centennial.
For more information visit Barber’s web page at nouspace.net/john/archive/mightyspan/mighty-span.html.
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