The volume of a tear can be measured, but not its impact.

(click image above to launch video; RealPlayer required.)

The Measure of Tears installed at Albany Institute of History and Art,
Albany, NY,  1997

water / copper tubing / porcelain evaporation dishes / pump / galvanized steel wash tubs / measuring devices / convex mirrors

Each drop of water falls 9' into the pool of water in a basin below it. The convex mirror in the basin magnifies and reflects onto the ceiling the bright image of widening, concentric ripples. The ripples expand and contract, and their reflections intersect with those from other basins.

The Measure of Tears installed in "Harvesting Nature's Energy,"
Woodstock Center for the Arts, Woodstock, NY, 2004
water / galvanized buckets / convex mirrors /
laboratory glassware / narrow beam spotlights

The Measure of Tears installed in "Rays of Light", Lightology,
Chicago, IL, 2003
water / galvanized buckets / convex mirrors /
laboratory glassware / narrow beam spotlights

May 22 – June 24, 2005
Mason Gross School of the Arts Galleries
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
33 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732 932-2222 x838
hours: weekdays 10-4
and by appointment on weekends