Artifacts from Austin’s past make a comeback

AUSTIN, Texas — After the sun goes down, Austin’s Moody Amphitheatre in Waterloo Park is illuminated by a new video by artists Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler. Called Past deposits of a future yet to comeThe large-scale video work spans the amphitheater’s 16-by-120-foot stage. Over the course of the film’s 27 minutes, a variety of objects—buttons, pottery shards, glass bottles, beads, marbles, a remarkable terracotta frog—tumble across the screen.

Although seemingly out of place in contemporary Waterloo Park, these objects belonged to people who lived in the area in centuries past. While researching the site, Hubbard and Birchler discovered a trove of 19th- and 20th-century objects that had been excavated from the Waterloo Park area decades ago and housed in a warehouse at the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. The current site of Waterloo Park, along the banks of Waller Creek, has long been a contentious space in Austin’s history. Over the past 200 years, communities including indigenous tribes, formerly enslaved African Americans, and Mexican immigrants have called the area home. A combination of disastrous flooding and segregationist urban policy displaced these communities in turn, leaving little physical evidence of their presence. Hubbard/Birchler center the objects that remain.

The objects are projected on a gigantic scale, far beyond life-size, in vibrant technicolor hues, appearing to float in space. Some rotate slowly, almost in procession, while others tear rapidly across the frame. Neither wind nor weather affects the objects, and despite their swirling motion, they never touch each other. By listening with headphones on the companion audio app (or attending a live musical performance, if you were lucky enough to attend the work’s premiere), viewers can experience Past deposits with its synchronized score, designed by composer Alex Weston. While the visuals are mesmerizing in their own right, the piece is incomplete without its musical component. Strings, woodwinds, and ethereal vocals provide a distinct tone and character to each “movement” of the grouped objects. A haunting section of cello, piano, and vocals orchestrates the dancing pirouettes of the glittering buttons. Drumming strings underlie rusty keys, nails, horseshoes, and a high-velocity rifle bullet.

Like Austin herself, Past deposits The work is not stagnant; it is in constant dialogue with the pedestrians, roads, and architecture that surround it. When I visited, an overzealous bagpiper accompanied the score from the park. Cyclists and skateboarders passed by. Cars honked on nearby I-35. The cinematic space merged with the architecture of the amphitheater and park, while falling artifacts seemed to dodge the concrete columns and absorb the shadows of passing visitors. In some ways, the work even seems to respond to the natural world, as the changing seasons determine when and for how long it is visible. The screening I saw at the dawn of summer began at 9 p.m.; visitors in June may see only a few minutes of the screening, as the days grow longer.

In the context of the larger body of Hubbard/Birchler work, Past deposits The work continues the artists’ long-standing fascination with time, memory, and the elevation of everyday objects. In tandem with Weston’s music, Hubbard and Birchler reanimate the abandoned treasures of Austin’s past and encourage viewers to become aware of the history buried just feet beneath the condominiums and skyscrapers of today’s booming city.

Past deposits of a future yet to come is on view at the Moody Amphitheatre in Waterloo Park through March 2029. The project was commissioned by Waterloo Greenway, Austin.