Artist impression, courtesy of artist

A fountain when it rains explores the ambiguous role of fountains in urban design between utility and aesthetics. Most modern fountains appear ornamental, even as they quietly serve the composite functions of marking spaces of pause and gathering, showcasing wealth and technological prowess, masking noise or enhancing fengshui. In this work, Catherine makes explicit the difficulty of trying to define the meaning of an object that has no clear utility. The use of salvaged ceramic tiles recalls public furniture in HDB void decks and the form mimics that of garden bird baths, while the fact remains that they are unusable as either.

Nestled amidst towering glass and concrete buildings, tension arises in the contrast between old and new materials, and between the monumental and human scaled. The title of the work provides a way out of this struggle for definition, deferring to nature for an answer—it is a fountain only when it rains.

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