Newtown Creek Center for Visual Research

Queens, NY, 2017-2019

This site-specific intervention along the shore line of the Newtown Creek in Maspeth, Queens, NY was created as an outdoor studio space as well as a public site for gatherings to bring awareness to this lesser known body of water and Superfund site.

This project investigated the reclaiming of environmentally abused and neglected city land along the shore of one of the most polluted waterways in the United States. The building of a fictitious “Center for Visual Research” was intended to bring visibility to this site as a worthwhile area for reuse beyond its tainted industrial past.

Through open studio events, exhibitions, performances, BBQs, and other free public gatherings, the Center brought people to this lesser known area and put the Creek on the map for many who otherwise might not have ever known it was there. As with many unsanctioned and unfunded public artworks, it fell prey to vandalism and eventual destruction but still had a brief but respectable 2 year life span.