On the shores of San Francisco is a huge acoustic sculpture by the Exploratorium, a community museum dedicated to awareness. The Wave Organ was designed and built in 1986 by two of the museum’s artists in residence, Peter Richards and George Gonzales. The Wave Organ is quite literally played by the ocean. Here’s what the Exploratorium has to say about it:

“The Wave Organ is located on a jetty that forms the small Boat Harbor in the Marina district of San Francisco. The jetty itself was constructed with material taken from a demolished cemetery, providing a wonderful assortment of carved granite and marble, which was used in the construction of this piece. The installation includes 25 organ pipes made of PVC and concrete located at various elevations within the site, allowing for the rise and fall of the tides. Sound is created by the impact of waves against the pipe ends and the subsequent movement of the water in and out of the pipes.”

Doesn’t that sound fascinating? The Wave Organ is definitely something I need to go see. And when you’re arranging your trip, you should plan to be there at high tide, when the organ sounds the best.

You can learn more about the Exploratorium on their website, and you can read all about the Wave Organ on their page and on the #waveorgan hashtag on Instagram.

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Now is the time to find joy in the simple things in life, such as old photos from your morning walks 🌸, also Hot Cheetos.

A post shared by S A N D Y ❤️ | 최유선 🇰🇷 (@s_choe1) on May 19, 2020 at 5:30pm PDT

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The wave organ . . . . . . . . . #waveorgan #sanfrancisco #moodmagic #widelens #fisheye #fisheyelens #fisheyephotography #photography #wideangle #wideanglelens #shotwithiphone #ultrawideangle #ominous_perfection #moodygrams

A post shared by Skeleton Hiding In A Meat Suit (@wolfie_grimalkin) on Mar 21, 2020 at 11:11am PDT

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#waveorgan #sanfrancisco #waterfront #lockdown2020 #walkabout #findbeauty

A post shared by wendy (@leftcoasturban) on May 13, 2020 at 4:38pm PDT

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After we visited the sea organ in Zadar, Croatia, someone told us there was also one in San Francisco and, after almost 9 months of being back, we finally went to see it! Unfortunately, the tide was low so the organ was not making music. On the bright side, the structure was pretty cool to check out and the views were hard to beat! ✨ Swipe to the end to see a photo of us at the sea organ in Zadar. This sea organ did put on a great concert for us as the boats passed by leaving behind music-causing wakes! 🌊 . . . #waveorgan #sanfrancisco #kidswhoexplore #adventuretime #onlyinsf #sanfranciscobay #waves #citybythebay #mysanfrancisco #sanfranciscomom #sf #zadar #seaorganzadar #croatiatravel #photooftheday #instagood #goldenstate #kidswhoexplore #familyfun #bayarea #sanfranciscolife #sanfranciscolove

A post shared by Paola Brigneti (@paolabrigneti) on Mar 9, 2020 at 10:01pm PDT