Rivers and Tides

Rivers and Tides is a 2001 documentary directed by filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer.  The film follows British outdoor artist Andy Goldsworthy who creates intricate and ephemeral sculptures from natural materials such as rocks, leaves, flowers and icicles. 

One of the most fascinating aspects of Goldsworthy’s work is his race against Mother Nature. After spending several tedious hours on a sculpture or piece of art, the tide comes in, or the rain comes down and erases his masterpiece leaving no trace of what was there. His completion is based on the timing of the tide, but even when it’s swept away he doesn’t see it as ruined.

“It feels like it’s been taken off into another plane, another world or another way, it doesn’t feel at all like destruction,” he says in the film.

He did, however, create a permanent piece—a curving drystone wall at Storm King, the sculpture park in the Hudson Valley north of New York City.

Check out a clip from the film Rivers and Tides below.