“This Was Water” will best be appreciated at night, when the glowing yellow crystals will draw you in from the urban landscape. Image by Benjamin Zack.

In the busy symphony of downtown Ogden, a new player has been added to the collective soup of the city’s soundscape. If you ignore the roar of cars, beeping of crosswalks and white noise of discombobulated chatter, and instead follow the low, hypnotizing hum in the air, you’ll eventually find yourself at Dumke Plaza. In the open air, across the street from The Monarch, you’ll find this hum emanating from massive crystals that have taken over the plaza.

This isn’t a sign of a rock-monster invasion, but rather Dumke Plaza’s new interactive exhibit “This Was Water.” A collaborative project between artists Carey Campbell (sound) and Kellie Bornhoft (sculpture), “This Was Water” is heavily inspired by recent studies by Weber State University’s Dr. Bonnie Baxter and student Paulina Martinez-Koury. The exhibit is a series of large, humming crystal sculptures that are meant to resemble the gypsum crystals or “dirty diamonds” found in Great Salt Lake.

“Dirty diamonds” are a fascinating result of the excess drying of Great Salt Lake.As the lake has, due to climate change and water consumption, begun drying at an unsustainable rate at an unsustainable rate, it has exposed more of its clay lake bed, creating the gypsum crystals. The mixture of the salt, harmful runoff, and lack of water begins a process that causes these crystals to form at an accelerated rate. These “dirty diamonds” grow so fast that they take in the clay and tar of the surrounding area, hence their name.

Most “dirty diamonds” will fit in the palm of your hand. The versions created by Bornhoft, an assistant professor at Weber State University, are the size of a small child, embedded in rock-like sculptures that were hefted onto the plaza by a small crane. Each  sculpture is fitted with lidar sensors, lights and speakers and will light up and release a hum as one approaches. Campbell, Professor of Music at Weber State University, designed a score for each rock mound and a soundscape for the entire plaza. The effect is ethereal, and feels drastically different from the normal soundscape of the city.

View of This Was Water in the Dumke Plaza on opening night. Image by Jonah Delgado.

The public unveiling of This Was Water included a live performance by local musicians alongside video projections of Great Salt Lake and its ecosystem, enhancing the installation’s immersive, multisensory experience. Image by Jonah Delgado.

The installation’s otherworldly feeling was enhanced even more with the video and performance that accompanied the crystals’ grand reveal. On opening day of the exhibit, both artists were present and graced the audience with a live musical accompaniment. The band consisted of two string instruments and two wind instruments that began to play a dark foreboding tune. The music was liminal, ambient and sharp. The music played along with a video showing footage of Great Salt Lake, the wildlife that benefit from the lake, and the destruction of its ecosystem. The video was heavily stylized with surreal visuals, and animations that added to the uncomfortable reality of the video.

The visuals, the foreboding music, and the low hum of the crystals all blended beautifully into a thought-provoking piece that begs the audience to consider our place in this fragile ecosystem. The work elicits conflicting feelings. While it feels otherworldly to approach the large crystals and hear them sing at your approach, they represent the  direct result of our irresponsible actions towards our planet. Much like sea glass, the “dirty diamonds” are a beautiful reminder of humankind’s destructive actions against nature. Further complicating matters and offering some hope, in a recent discovery, Baxter and Martinez-Koury found that the “dirty diamonds” are actually filled with microscopic life.

“This Was Water” will remain in Dumke Plaza for the next year, with new visuals being added periodically. The plaza now offers a place of otherworldly reflection as we take a moment away from the hustle and bustle of the city and remind ourselves of our connection with nature. While it is easy to think of this exhibit as a haunting reminder of our destructive capabilities, there is a sense of hope that comes from the crystals, one shared by the artists who created the installation. Bornhoft, commenting on the exhibit and the nature of the situation, said: “This art exhibit was a collaborative effort involving a lot of people, just like how the process of healing the Great Salt Lake will be a collaborative effort.” While it is easy to forget our place in nature due to the noise of the world around us, take a moment and listen to the cries for help our home lets out. Just like the crystals of the plaza, it will get louder and louder as you get closer.

“This Was Water” is an interactive sculpture, sound and video installation centered around the Great Salt Lake and is on display in Downtown Ogden’s Dumke Arts Plaza. Image by Benjamin Zack.

This Was Water, Dumke Arts Plaza, 445 25th St, Ogden, through April 30, 2026.

All images courtesy of the artist.

Jonah Delgado

Jonah Delgado was born and raised in Los Angeles but moved to Utah in 2018. He quickly fell in love with the mountains, the Great Salt Lake, and the art scene in Utah. Jonah graduated from Weber State with a BA in English, and is always on the hunt for new exciting art to gawk at and enjoy.