Since we do have “access” to a fairly large river–one which separates us from Detroit, Michigan–a project such as Anne Percoco‘s “Indra’s Cloud” could work to highlight similar pollution issues in our area. Our river is not generally used for bathing, but the one pictured has been used for years and is now raising serious health concerns. Anne’s commentary on the issue came in the form of a raft consructed from used plastic bottles and bound with recycled labels, which were used as rope.
In her words, “I created a mobile public sculpture which brings to life a local myth and draws attention to the severely polluted condition of the Yamuna River.”
I’d love to see a floating sculpture competition happen on the Detroit River. It’d be like Fahrenheit, but just on the water (and no fire).
Also, one of Cristina’s friends told me today about some plants that have been bred “designed” take mercury out of water… so maybe the sculptures in the Detroit River would have to imagine methods for remediation somehow…
YES! We haven’t explored phytoremediation yet. I think the floating sculpture competition idea is awesome. Fahrenheit draws a big crowd and is exciting, but what if we could have something as exciting without the bit of pollution?
Hey. I’m Cristina’s friend that you met the other day. I thought I’d just let you know that the Green Corridor course is not working on the floating plants anymore, so the project is now up for grabs. If you still wanted more information on it, I will be talking to a couple of my Biology profs next week to try and figure something out. Have fun in New York!
Diana,
We should talk about this some more soon.
Maybe one of the evenings after the Green Corridor class we could figure out some scale of this project that we could start working on… keep us posted on your conversations with your profs.
I’d love to discuss this with you guys!