“Domino Effect” has previously popped up, and fallen down, in Denver and New York, shown here. (Photo: Jason DeCrow/AP for Alliance for Downtown New York)  By Michael Morain Editor Sometimes art can be quite moving. With kinetic sculptures, that’s the point. Two major public artworks — one downtown and one in Clive — have recently caught our attention. “Domino Effect,” Saturday through Sept. 30 at Cowles Commons In the next few days, a crew will set up a series of giant, light-up dominoes on the plaza for a month-long installation presented by Des Moines Performing Arts, the Greater Des Moines Partnership and Operation Downtown. Once it’s up, visitors can topple the dominoes and trigger a cascade of ethereal sounds, including vocals, flutes, drums and marimbas. (Curious? Watch a 60-second video.) The project was dreamed up by a Montreal-based arts team called Ingrid Ingrid, who has previously taken the dominoes to New York and Denver. Here in Des Moines, the project caps off DMPA’s Hy-Vee Summer Arts Series, which “is built on making the arts accessible to everyone,” DMPA President and CEO Monica Holt said in a press release. “‘Domino Effect’ by Ingrid Ingrid is the result: a free, joyful experience on Cowles Commons designed to connect our community in the heart of downtown.” “Aquatic Dance,” permanently installed in July at Clive’s Greenbelt Landing (Photos: Studio F Minus) The visual centerpiece of the newly redeveloped Greenbelt Landing is a trio of 20-foot steel poles crowned by a cloud of more than 400 small paddles that shift like weathervanes in the wind. Its creator, Brad Hindson from Studio F Minus in Toronto, said he conceived it as “a sketch of water” that literally goes with the flow. He was inspired by the site’s location next to Walnut Creek, a marsh and the Clive Aquatic Center at 1801 NW 114th St. “It’s really all about water,” he said. But the sculpture itself is hard — and it was a hard challenge to design and build. After Hindson was awarded the commission, in a process led by Group Creative Services, he spent six months drafting sketches, 3D-printing a scale model, fabricating the steel parts and hand-bending each paddle into a subtle zigzag form to catch even the slightest whisper of a breeze. He painted them an array of blues, greens and an earthy terra cotta to reflect the colors of the creek. “We wanted it to feel light and airy,” he said. The paddles “are all susceptible to the movement of the wind, so on a windy day, the piece is quite animated.” The precise word he used to explain the effect was “peristaltic,” which describes the wave-like contractions that squeeze and push contents through a tube — “like when you watch a ‘Looney Tunes’ cartoon and you see water moving through a hose,” he said. “You see a bulge.” The sculpture is part of the Greenbelt Landing’s $10.5 million redevelopment, which locals celebrated during Clive Fest on July 17. The artwork was funded in part by the NCMIC Group and Bravo Greater Des Moines. As Hindson sees it, the park promotes exercise for both the body and, now, the mind. “I’ve always tried to make work that draws you in and kind of provides that mesmerizing flow state you get when you stare at a campfire or watch a sunset or see sunlight sparkling on water,” he said. “I try to create pieces that you can get lost in.” ...read more read less