In commemoration of the fatal 1995 heat wave that blasted through Chicago, local performance artist Nicole Garneau will occupy Daley Plaza with her weeklong installation piece, “739 Cups of Water.” “It was important to do it in a central, public place,” says Garneau, who has created a performance for every day of this year so far. “This event was important to our city’s history and it is an event we need to realize.” Garneau will pay tribute to the victims as she attempts to fill 739 cups containing words pertaining to the tragedy with water from the Daley Plaza fountain everyday at noon during the week of its tenth anniversary, July 14-20. Garneau was inspired to do something after reading Eric Klinenberg’s comprehensive account, “Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster.” “I am happy that someone is working hard to remember this horrible disaster that so many were forced by the media and the city to forget,” says Klinenberg. “Hopefully this will encourage people to think about what happened and push the city to react to something they consider a ‘non-event.’”
