Christopher Schardt's "Light Ripples" is in the Grand River next to the Blue Bridge for ArtPrize Eight.

The underwater LED sculpture's electronics have been damaged by water. It is possible the sculpture will not be operational for the entirety of ArtPrize.

"Light Ripples" uses 12,228 points of light, computer algorithms, music and more. Schardt's work uses a lot of expensive electronic equipment to combine technology and art.

I met Schardt and his assistant at the sculpture this afternoon. When they arrived they discovered that the sculpture was not functioning properly and it had no electricity. After some troubleshooting, they determined that the underwater LED sculpture's electronics had been damaged by water.

Fixing the sculpture will be a time consuming, difficult and expensive task. With Schardt schedule to fly out of Grand Rapids tomorrow, it puts the entire project at risk.

The project is one of four to receive grant money from the inaugural ArtPrize Featured Public Project.

More From 98.7 WFGR