Swale
2016, and ongoing.
A steel hopper barge, edible vegetation, soil, gravel, aluminum, wood, fabric, landfill liner; 130 x 40 x 22 New York City currently has 100 acres of community garden space, compared with 30,000 acres of public parkland. “Swale” is a public floating food forest in New York City, it utilizes common laws of the water in order to circumvent New York City’s public land laws. Growing or picking food on New York City’s public land has been off-limits for almost a century for fear that a glut of foragers may destroy an ecosystem. This way, Swale is able to dock adjacent to public land and allow people to freely forage edible and medicinal plants grown onboard.
Along the Lines of Displacement
2018
Trees, soil; 33’ x 40’ x 42’ Three tropical fruit trees from agricultural zones 9 and 10 transplanted in agricultural zone 5 and 6 as a “living sculpture” and provocation: a proposal for a future that is predicted for the turn of the next century, when a 4-degree Celsius [7.2-degree Fahrenheit] temperature rise is the baseline for change with climate change.
Arctic Food Forest
2016
16’ x 30’ x 40’ footprint. The risks around food security are greatly increased in an area of the United States where food is roughly 4x as expensive as it is in the lower 48 states. Arctic Food Forest utilizes permaculture to plant a regenerative ecosystem with Zone 5 and 6 edible perennial plants and predictive modeling to plan for a warming arctic.
Wetland
2014 - 2017.
Rockwell Whitcraft boat hull, with reclaimed lumber, windows, plastic drums, vegetation, and a chicken coop; 50' x 24' x 18'
Flock House - Omaha
2015
Alumalite sheets, recycled maple hardwood flooring from a high school gymnasium, hinges, cedar wood, plants, soil, and scavenged tools. "Flock House Project " was a creative space built from refuse to meet Omaha's temporary buildings code. It functioned as an art residency, public stage, and a shared community garden.
Pull
2015.
Aluminum drywall stud, US Military parachutes, perennial edible plants, plastic juice jugs, 55 gallon oil barrels, fish, birds, lighting, 55 gallon drums, wood, rope; 10’ x 10’ x 13’ Pull was an autonomous ecosystem that was pulled to different sites throughout Havana, Cuba. It housed birds and fish that ate off of a regenerating supply of plant life and algae. Pull was a proposal for a temporary autonomous zone, and housed ecosystems as well as activities.
Flock House
2016
Located at PS62 in Staten Island, 8’ x 8’ x 12’ Flock House was installed in Public School 62 on Staten Island. It is a place for school children to visit to learn about ascetic living in a fantastical space. This is a permanent translation of a public art project that took place in Dumbo in 2012 and Omaha in 2014.
Wading Bridge
2015
Galvanized steel and flotation. 32’ x 16’ x 4’ Wading Bridge is an experiential sculpture that invited people into the fast-moving nitrate-filled river in Des Moines IA, a river that is continually flooding and polluted from nitrate runoff from farms nearby.
What Happens After?
2018
BRIC, a reconstructed military vehicle. What happens when an object that embodies both the systemic violence represented by war and and by climate change is manifested in a public space? The vehicle - used in the Gulf and Afghan wars and made in the U.S. by Oshkosh Defense - was collaboratively re-designed by nine artists, veterans, and activists into a platform for performance. Throughout the run of the exhibition, programming by these artists and across BRIC will be presented on the platform. The activation of an object with such a loaded history will further challenge our ability to collectively reenvision our environment in the present and future. When we're able to change the form and function of an object with a violent and complex history, it can be powerful. Can it become ritual? Can it be healing?
Last Library
2020
A project showcased at the University of Colorado's Art Museum where students and facilitators co-designed possibilities for an "Ecotopian Library" in Boulder, Colorado. The "Ecotopian Library" is a long term accumulative toolkit that stems from the belief that art and ecotopian thought can be part of cultivating systemic social change.