Looking Up: Rachel Whiteread's Water Tower

Rachel Whiteread's Water Tower began in 1994 with an invitation by New York's Public Art Fund to visit New York City. After almost four years of planning, on June 7th, 1998, the Water Tower was installed on the rooftop of 60 Canal Street in the middle of Soho. This volume documents, in words and pictures, all the stages of producing this complex, yet simple sculpture. It experiences the early phase by taking a look into Whiteread's private notebooks, it takes part in tracing the site search through New York, it discusses the technical difficulties of producing a translucent glass-like resin tank, and it explores numerous comments of art aficionados and passers-by from the street. Luc Sante examines the nature of water towers, Molly Nesbitt provides a social and art-historical perspective on the topic, Neville Wakefield reveals facts on the nature of water and water towers, and Tom Eccles, Director of the Public Art Fund, tells the story of how Whiteread's Water Tower came to life in detail.