There isn't that much to look at in Western Bridge's current show, Box with the Sound of Its Own Making—this is a view of the huge central gallery during Friday night's opening.

The line on the floor is a copper pipe connected to the water main (also pictured), with a lever that begs you to open it and flood the place.

It's an artwork by Jason Dodge that premiered in New York last year.

The question everyone kept asking during the opening was: If you push the lever, will the water actually come spraying out?

Pretty late in the evening, at about third-drink hour, someone did, in fact, finally press the valve, and the water did, in fact, come shooting out. It was a shock and a relief, and then when it closed again, the tension reset. Just sitting there all stopped up, the pipe holds that familiar satisfaction in remembering that art and everything else has a system, and that just seeing a system can be a revelation. On the flip side, opening up that awareness for too long could cause drowning.

Either way, as you can see, people kept congregating at the head of the pipe. Visually, it was nothing, but it was the center of the room's gravity.