Framework for a 21st century city

Sustainability Made Tangible Through the Arts

CITY
AS
LIVING
LABORATORY
Mary Miss & Marda Kirn
 CITY AS LIVING LAB
VISION

SUSTAINABILITY MADE TANGIBLE THROUGH THE ARTS

SOCIAL
SUSTAINABILITY Artists

Scientists CITY
Poets

ENVIRONMENTAL
Engineers AS
SUSTAINABILITY
COLLABORATION AND THE ARTS
Sociologists
LIVING
Performers LABORATORY
ECONOMIC Framework for a 21st Century City
SUSTAINABILITY Historians

Designers

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
VISION
City as Living Laboratory (CaLL) is a vision for linking the arts with sustainability to help us imagine and create cities
that redefine how we live our lives, use our resources, communicate, educate, and work.

GOALS
● To make SUSTAINABILITY TANGIBLE and visible for citizens, communities and institutions
● To EDUCATE the public about environmental, social and economic sustainability
● To stimulate ECONOMIC VITALITY in our neighbohoods and city-wide
● To ADDRESS CRISES in our cities such as environmental degradation, neighborhood blight, crumbling
infrastructure, and natural disasters

ARTISTS AND COLLABORATIONS

● Artists are specialists in innovative thinking and are currently being overlooked as a resource
● Artists, working in collaboration with people in other fields, can create projects that educate, inspire, encourage,
and motivate citizens to think about the world around them in new ways

CRITICAL ISSUES
● NATURAL SYSTEMS can be made evident in local and regional contexts
● INFRASTRUCTURE can be revealed and given visual expression
● SOCIAL PROGRAMS can connect neighborhoods with their environment, culture, history, and each other

IMPLEMENTATION
● SCALE - a city’s large-scale sustainability initiatives can be expressed through smaller-scale projects
● RESOURCES - collaborative arts projects can partner with existing programs and institutions
● TIME - arts projects can happen immediately with fewer resources
● SPACE - arts projects can be integrated into the physical and virtual spaces of a city

PROGRAM TYPES
● PLACES - such as community gardens, parks, abandoned lots, infrastructure sites
● EVENTS - performances, festivals, exhibits, talks, tours, fairs, feasts, films
● TOPICS - land, water, transportation, energy, air, climate change, etc.

CONCLUSION
● CITY AS LIVING LABORATORY can help make ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC sustainability
integral to all communities of a city
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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
GOALS

SUSTAINABILITY MADE TANGIBLE

The City as Living Laboratory will include places and programs where sustainability becomes tangible. To turn this goal into a reality
artists and designers will create projects which address the critical environmental issues of our time (such as pollution, sprawl, water
and energy), or reveal a site’s history, or provide meaningful social spaces within and beyond a community.

EDUCATION
Educating the public about environmental, social, and economic sustainability is an important part of this program’s mission. Whether
focusing on environmental issues or learning about the history of a place, citizens will be able to enjoy a city where education is
approached in a very unique way. Rather than the conventional use of interpretive signage or directives, educational experiences will
engage people through the creative work of artists and designers.

ECONOMIC VITALITY
Sustainability is an economic mandate for both the public and private sector. Its focus on long term value is good business. City econo-
mies can benefit from sustainability in many ways such as increased private investment on the creation of new jobs. Innovation is the
critical driver. Artists are a ready source of entrepreneurial capital and innovation in our cities.

ADDRESSING CRISIS
The City as Living Laboratory program can also serve as a means to address sudden crises, educating citizens about how to deal with
the unexpected, whether it be severe water shortages, an energy crisis, flooding, fires or hurricanes. Innovative solutions can be tested
for problems that have been occurring more frequently recently as a result of the unsustainable practices that have taken a toll on our
natural and urban environments.

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
GOALS

Artists have a centuries-long history of addressing issues in the public realm.

Art can be critical, educational, analytical, interpretive, or symbolic.

PRECEDENTS Uncle Tom’s Cabin The Jungle Guernica Burn on Big River Burn on Angels in America Still Here The Last Wilderness
1852 1906 1937 1972 1992 1994 2004
Novelist & Abolitionist Writer / Social Critic Painter Musician/Song-writer Playwright Choreographer Photographer
Harriet Beecher Stowe Upton Sinclair Pablo Picaso Randy Newman Tony Kushner Bill T. Jones Subhankar Banerjee

EFFECTS The novel so ignited The novel prompted The mural has The song galvanized the The Broadway The dance work The photo used in
RESULTS public discussion Theodore Roosevelt become emblematic city’s efforts to clean up play helped to helped to focus the Senate to stop
about slavery and its to pass the Meat of the tragedies and the polluted Cuyahoga shift public opinion attention on drilling in the Artic
possible abolition that Regulation Act which horrors of war River, which helped about AIDS and people with life National Wildlife
Abraham Lincoln helped establish the inflicted on individu- inspire the creation of homophobia. threatening Refuge (ANWR)
called it “the little book Food and Drug als and innocent the Clean Water Act. diseases.
that started the Civil Administration. civilians.
War.”

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
ARTISTS AND COLLABORATION

Artists, designers and other visualizers can play a significant role as catalysts for
environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Through collabortaion artist can identify and re-examine issues to be addressed. They can create new partnerships across disciplinary, departmental, and institu-
tional lines. They can refocus existing resources to achieve common goals. They can create solutions in temporary and permanent projects, programs and infra-
structure. They can encourage the involvement of all citizens and inspire the personal and political will to create revitalized, sustainable cities.

Experimental City
where new ideas can be
sound investigated and tested
scientists
temporary touch
planners
visual artists
literary artists
performers + engineers
sociologists
historians
+ permanent
conceptual
virtual
+ taste
smell
sight
= Experiential City
where sustainability is made tangible
through the arts

Evolving City
where issues of our times can
be expressed

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
CRITICAL ISSUES

NATURAL SYSTEMS

INFRASTRUCTURE

SOCIAL PROGRAMS

Cities face numerous critical issues which vary

depending on the needs and interests of each
community. The following section maps out one
way issues could be organized.

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 CRITICAL ISSUES
EXAMPLES / OPPORTUNITIES

Community issues might be organized using the following headings:

natural systems, infrastructure and social programs.
Collaborative projects can span across many scales and disciplines.

SCALES n NATURAL SYSTEMS i INFRASTRUCTURE s SOCIAL PROGRAMS

strategies to reveal and strategies to reveal and strategies to connect neighborhoods and
give visual expression to natural give visual expression to communities physically and socially with
systems in local and regional infrastructural systems & issues focused on environment, culture,
contexts networks history, and justice

Air Quality Test Sites Water Treatment Plants Traces of History Video
Environmental Artist & as Public Places Installations at Transit Stops
REGION Air Quality Specialist Artist & Engineers Video Artist & Historian

Convert spaces below elevated

Wildlife Migration Markers & Creative $$-saving & Sustainable
CITY Information Points
transportation infrastructure to
greenhouses & public spaces. Business Events
Visual Artist & Zoologist Urban Designers & Economists
Architect & City Maintenance

BOROUGH Sustainable Habitat Stations & Convert City Rooftops (gardens, Historical & Folk Music
Monitoring/Surveillance Sites planted trellises, or solar panels) Traditions Concert
Film-maker & Ecologist Artist & Landscape Architect Musicians & Historians

NEIGHBORHOOD
Water Quality Test Sites Neighborhood Energy Neighborhood Culture
Landscape Architect & Ecologist Measuring Billboards Front-yard Showcase
Urban designer & Power Company Set Designer & Local Residents
BLOCK
Permeable pathways & Revealing Underground Ancestry & Immigration Maps
Storm-water Habitat creation Utility Infrastructure Public Exhibition
Visual Artist & Hydrologist Lighting Designer & Civil Engineer Web-designer & Anthropologist
STREET
Geologic/Climatic
History Installations Rush-hour/Dance-hour Puppet Show Exercise Hour
Visual Artist & Geologist Dancers & Traffic Control Specialist Puppeters & Fitness Trainers
BUILDING
Micro-Climate Street-Level Building Metric Markers Eating Healthy
Landscape Rooms Graphic Designer & Organic Garden Paths
Interior Designer & Botanist Environmenatal Engineer Landscape Artist & Dietician
INDIVIDUAL
Seasonal Blooms Plays The Death and Life of Sustainable Story-telling hour
Actors & Forestry Experts Great American Cities: Part 2 Poets & Grade Schools
Essayist/Writers and Urban Planners

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 CRITICAL ISSUES
collaboration precedent: Artist + Hydrologist

n NATURAL SYSTEMS
CONNECT THE DOTS (2007)
Boulder, Colorado

Three hundred six-inch diameter blue discs marked the

projected flood level in the center of the city. Initiated as
an art installation, the piece was so effective that city
officials requested that it stay up long after the exhibit
was over so they could use it for their flood control
education program.

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 CRITICAL ISSUES
collaboration precedent: Artist + Engineers

i INFRASTRUCTURE
Arlington County Water Treatment Plant (2003-2005)
Arlington, Virginia

This proposal transforms a 30 acre sewage treatment

plant into a public space. It creates a full-scale three-
dimensional diagram that explains the wastewater
treatment process. The public can now interact with this
vital piece of infrastructure in new ways. It establishes a
clearer understanding of the relationship between the
surrounding neighborhoods, the plant, and the Chesa-
peake Bay.

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 CRITICAL ISSUES
collaboration precedent: Artist + Landscape Architect + Plant Specialist

s SOCIAL PROGRAMS
Roshanara’s Net (2008)
New Delhi, India

A derelict 17th-century archaeology site in Delhi, India

was transformed into a temporary ayurvedic medicinal
garden giving the nearby community a new connection
to this site. As a result of this project’s success the
possibility of a permanent garden in this and other parks
is being pursued within the municipality.

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
IMPLEMENTATION

SCALE

RESOURCES

TIME

SPACE

By seeding the city with small-scale projects over time the

landscape, experience and understanding of sustainability
can be fundamentally altered.

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 IMPLEMENTATION
SCALE

Small-scale arts projects can communicate a city’s plans for large-scale initiatives.

LARGE-SCALE INITIATIVES
The energy, transportation, infrastructure and other needs of cities can be met through a political process that implements planning, program and policy
Large-scale initiatives through broad moves.
● Utility infrastructure sites need to be more energy efficient.
Initiatives ● Air quality needs to be improved significantly.
● Waste leaving the city needs to be reduced.
● Neighborhoods need to be revitalized.

Geology & Design

Poetry & Epidemiology

PLANNING
Dance & Sociology
Art & Ecology

PROGRAM
Planning & Sculpture
Horticulture & Urban Design

POLICY
Anthropology & Architecture
Small-scale
Hydrology & Performing Arts Projects

SMALL-SCALE INTERVENTIONS
Sustainability initiatives can be made apparent and meaningful to individual citizens through small-scale collaborative arts projects that they encounter
in their daily lives. Artists and designers can create a series of interventions throughout the city that can start immediately.
● Infrastructure sites can be transformed into public places to make people aware of the systems that support their lives.
● Pedestrians can be made aware of all the buildings they pass that have green roofs.
● Bio-swales can be made visible on median strips or in parks that clean street runoff water.
● The history of a neighborhood can be revealed.

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 IMPLEMENTATION
RESOURCES

Arts projects can be implemented through collaborations with existing institutions and existing programs.
Sustainable cities can be achieved through refocusing existing programs, institutions and resources to address common goals. Cultural, civic, and
educational institutions, businesses and neighborhood groups can participate. If each can undertake to support a single project, over an extended
period of time the city can be transformed one small step at a time.

Cultural programs
Studio in a School
Creative Time
Design Trust for Public Space
Public Art Fund

Community Programs
Neighborhood Associations
Churches, Temples, Mosques
Business Improvement Districts
Soup Kitchens
Cultural Institutions Senior Citizens center
Museums YMCA/ YWCA
Existing Programs & Places Zoos Big Brothers & Sisters
Botanical Gardens
Aquariums

City Departments
Transit
Resources Utilitities
Existing Institutions Educational Institutions Sanitation
& Partners Parks
Universities/Colleges
Public Schools Community Boards
Private Schools Housing and Preservation
Environmental Protection
Health & Human Services
Design and Construction
Economic Development

Existing Businesses Corporations & Small Businesses

Civic Resources Government Funding Agencies

Private Resources Foundations

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 IMPLEMENTATION
TIME

Artists can help communicate a city’s plans for the future within a relatively short period of time.
Planning, program and policy initiatives have long range goals and often take years if not decades to implement. In the first 10 years, smaller-scale interventions
created by artists and designers in collaboration with others can happen almost immediately and with fewer resources. As such, they can have an important role
by creating an interim presence for projects that will take years to complete. These interventions could engage a community’s interest and participation around
an issue. New ways of thinking about sustainability can be introduced while announcing a city’s long term intention to create change. Issues of environmental
and social justice can be addressed making an immediate impact on underserved communities.

AIR QUALITY Reduce pollution by 50%

GREEN MARKETS Locate in all communities

TRANSPORTATION Reduce car traffic by 60%

ENERGY Reduce fossil fuel energy consumption

JOBS Increase employment especially in underserved neighborhoods

INFRASTRUCTURE Make all waste and utility sites public spaces

PARKS Convert all parks to 50% native plants

Sustainable
City WATER Gain access to waterfronts, improve quality, reduce consumption

next 90 years 2010 12 14 16 18 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2100

- Variety of arts projects: temporary, permanent, virtual, conceptual
- A range of scales of projects: $1,000-$5,000; $10,000-$20,000, $50,000-$100,000; $500,000-$1million; $1.5 million +
- Different constituencies: communities, neighborhoods, boroughs, BID districts, interest groups
- Different locations in the city
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 IMPLEMENTATION
SPACES

Arts projects can be integrated into the physical and virtual environments of the city.
In this way, the face of the city can be transformed as sustainability projects are implemented in multiple venues.

Public Spaces
Building Facades
Lobbies
Atrium
Doorways
Infrastructural Spaces Store Fronts
Physical Spaces Transit Stops
Roofs
Transit Stations
Under Bridges and Elevated Roads
Sidewalks
Water Bodies
Parks
Drainage Systems
Plazas
Manholes
Community Gardens
Power Plants
Institutional Spaces Waste Plants
Museums
Zoos
Botanical Gardens
Where can Other
this happen? Municipal Websites
Mobile Devices
GPS Devices
E-commerce Sites Blogs
Craig’s List
E-Bay
Amazon

Virtual Environments Networking & Social

FaceBook
MySpace
Friendster
Linked-In
Google
Google Earth
Google Maps
Google Sketch-up
Google Documents

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
PROGRAM TYPES

PLACE

TOPIC

EVENT

PLAN

The following examples show different approaches

to transforming a city into a City as Living Lab.

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 PROGRAM TYPES

PLACE
TOPIC

EVENT

PLAN

A redevelopment zone can engage artists early on to make

sustainability important and visible to its citizens. This could
set an example for the city’s ongoing revitialization.

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 PROGRAM TYPES
PLACE: Hunters Point

Hunters Point Housing Plan

Hunter Point, Long Island City, New York City

This project for Hunters Point in Queens would create opportunities

for about 300 housing units in new buildings that would be
designed according to green design standards. However, it is not
enough to simply meet green building requirements. Through the
City as Living Laboratory, artists can help create a visibly different
green city, raising awareness among local residents about
sustainable practices and the complex history and infrastructure of
Hunters Point.

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 PROGRAM TYPES
PLACE: Hunters Point

Arts projects can be inserted into all construction phases during the making of and on-going occupation of a place.
Project construction phases for Hunters Point South Housing Plan
DEMOLITION & SITE WORK SUB-STRUCTURE STRUCTURE SKIN & MATERIALS SERVICES & TECHNOLOGY ON-GOING OCCUPATION

TEMPORARY
PROJECTS

PERMANENT
PROJECTS

VIRUTAL
PROJECTS

CONCEPTUAL
PROJECTS

Infrastructure Art Project

Natural Systems Art Project
Social Programs Art Project
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 PROGRAM TYPES
PLACE: Hunters Point

Arts projects can be implemented through collaborations with existing institutions and programs

CITY-WIDE RESOURCES LOCAL RESOURCES

Environment Utilities 4
1. Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment 1. Consolidated Edison Co.
1
2. Downtown Alliance 2. Newtown Creek Waste
3. Eyebeam Atelier Water Treatment Plant
15 2
Art institutions
Art Organizations
3. Sculpture Center 3
4. Creative Time
4. PS1 Contemporary Art Center 7 16 17
5. Exit Art
6. 5pointz Aerosol Art Center
6. Alliance for the Arts 18
7. Dancing in the Streets 5
Government
8 . Arts for Change
7. PlanNYC
9. Public Art Fund
8. Art in the Park
6 8
9. DOT Urban Art Program 11
Social 10. Dept of Environmental Protection 14
10. American Documentary
13
11. Economic Development Corporation
11. CultureNOW
12. Van Alen Institute Colleges Universities
13. Architectural League of New York 12. Queens College 9
14. Center for Urban Pedagogy 13. Pratt Institute
15. Design Trust for Public Space 14. LaGuardia Community College
16. Municipal Art Society
17. New York Foundation for Architecture Environmental
18. Open House New York 15. Alley Pond Environmental Center
19. Storefront for Art and Architecture 16 Community Environmental Center

Organizations Schools
20. Architecture For Humanity 17. Information Technology High School 12
21. Green Home NYC 18. Long Island City School of Ballet
22. Not An Alternative 19. Public School 78 Local Resources for Hunters Points South

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 PROGRAM TYPES

PLACE

TOPIC
EVENT

PLAN

Topic-focused arts projects can provide in-depth investigations

of a specific theme within the broad range of sustainability.
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 PROGRAM TYPES
TOPIC: Water

n NATURAL SYSTEMS
BEACONPOINT AT LONG DOCK (2007)
Beacon, NY / Artist: George Trakas

The artist-designed peninsula on the Hudson River water-

front adjacent to Dia:Beacon includes a terraced fishing
deck, a new boardwalk, restored bulkhead, and a naturally
preserved south shoreline, providing direct access to the
river and its ecosystems.

Water-related systems identified through data mapping

and analysis can become opportunities for intervention.

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 PROGRAM TYPES
TOPIC: Industrial History

s SOCIAL PROGRAMS
MOTORNAMA ROSHANARA (2008)
New Delhi, India / Artist: Ashok Sukuman & Shaina Anand

This project offered tours of the old industrial district along

Roshanara Road in Delhi using eco-friendly rickshaws. The
tour called attention to the various sites and histories of the
industrial age of this area, and its related narratives of
pollution, automation and skilled labor. Sites visited include
a 100-year-old ice factory, a derelict cinema, motor repair
and recycling shops, and a printing press among others.

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Project collaboratioins included an urban designer, industrial designer,
acoustician, cognitive scientists, a musicologist and transportation planners.
PROGRAM TYPES
TOPIC: Roadways
i INFRASTRUCTURE
RUMBLE STRIP TRIP (2005)
New York, NY / Urban Designer: Petia Morosov
This is an example of a designer reimagining the function of
insfrastructure. Innovative road-surface milling system that
adapts existing CNC technology used for grinding highway
rumble strips to engrave musically-encoded, acoustically-
precise strip patterns in driving lanes. There are three main
objectives: to improve highway safety, to enhance driving
experiences and to orient drivers to their surroundings.
Collaborators on the project represent the fields of urban
design, industrial design, acoustics, cognitive sciences,
musicology and transportation planning.
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 PROGRAM TYPES

PLACE

TOPIC

EVENT
PLAN

Themed events of varying lengths of time can engage new

audiences in issues that otherwise might go unnoticed.

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 PROGRAM TYPES
EVENT: Boulder

ECOARTS FESTIVAL (2007)

Boulder, Colorado
http://www.insite05.org/index.php

Climate change was a topic that generated the creation of

an EcoArts Festival in and around Boulder, Colorado.
“EcoArts is a new event, a new model, a new way of
thinking bringing together people from all walks of life - to
investigate the realities of climate change and celebrate the
delights of a sustainable future - in a conversation sparked
by the arts. EcoArts brings together science, environmental,
arts, indigenous, and other organizations to offer you a wide
variety of events - performances, exhibits, talks, tours, films,
fairs, and more.”

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 PROGRAM TYPES
EVENT: New Delhi

48°C PUBLIC • ART • ECOLOGY (2008)

New Delhi, India
http://www.48c.org

48°C Public.Art.Ecology is an experiment set within the

metropolitan city of Delhi. Twenty five art installations in a
variety of public spaces drew attention to the fragile ecology
of the city.

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 PROGRAM TYPES
EVENT: San Diego & Tijuana

inSITE (first version 1992)

San Diego, California & Tijuana, Mexico
http://www.insite05.org/index.php

inSite is dedicated to the realization of binational collabora-

tive arts partnerships among nonprofit and public institu-
tions in the San Diego-Tijuana region. Operating through a
unique collaborative structure that is based on the active
participation of cultural and educational institutions in the
US and Mexico, inSite is focused on promoting artistic
investigation and activation of urban space.

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 PROGRAM TYPES

PLACE

TOPIC

EVENT

PLAN

The numerous and complex issues addressed in a city’s

existing sustainability plan can be made tangible to
citizens through collaborative arts projects.
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 PROGRAM TYPES
PLAN: PlaNYC 2030

On Earth Day 2007, New York City published PlaNYC, a report outlining a long-term strategy of sustainability for the City. The plan set forth a variety of initiatives
in categories such as land, water, transportation, energy, air and climate change. While many projects such as improving water and air quality have benefits that
affect everyone in the City, they are largely invisible to the public. Through the City as Living Laboratory, artists can help identify opportunities to reveal these
efforts to people throughout the City.

LAND PROJECTS
HOUSING

OPEN SPACE

BROWNFIELDS

WATER PROJECTS
CITY WATER QUALITY
AS WATER NETWORK
LIVING
LABORATORY TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
City Sustainability Initiatives
framework for a 21st century city CONGESTION

STATE OF GOOD REPAIR

OTHERS PROJECTS
n i s ENERGY

AIR QUALITY

CLIMATE CHANGE

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 PROGRAM TYPES
PLAN: PlaNYC 2030

City as Living Laboratory projects can call attention to PlaNYC initiatives.

Since the inception of PlaNYC, nearly all of its 127 initiatives have begun. While many PlaNYC projects such as the opening of new playgrounds and bike lanes
are quite visible to the general public, many highly beneficial efforts go largely unnoticed. For example, 15% of the taxi fleet has been converted to clean-fuel
vehicles. Citywide emissions of greenhouse gases have been reduced. The MTA has begun drilling the tube to extend the 7 train line. Major strides have been
made to improve the City's ability to handle storm and wastewater. These are among the many projects that the City as Living Laboratory could help make visible
to citizens.
2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030

LAND PROJECTS

HOUSING

OPEN SPACE

BROWNFIELDS

WATER PROJECTS

WATER QUALITY

WATER NETWORK

TRANSPORTATION
PROJECTS

CONGESTION

STATE OF GOOD
REPAIR

OTHERS PROJECTS

ENERGY

LEGEND
AIR QUALITY
Infrastructure Projects

CLIMATE CHANGE Natural Systems Projects

Social Programs Projects

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
CONCLUSION

WHAT MAKES THE CITY AS LIVING LABORATORY A VITAL IDEA?

Why would a city want to implement such a plan?

WE MUST DEAL WITH THE CRISES IN OUR CITIES.

It is imperative that we change the ways we live, work, build and play to deal with the economic, environmental and social crises we face.

MAKE ISSUES OF SUSTAINABILITY TANGIBLE AND VISIBLE.

We need the participation of all citizens, communities and institutions to maintain the political will to create newly sustainable cities

GIVE THE CITY A GLOBAL I.D. AS AN INNOVATIVE GREEN CITY.

Redefining the city in this way is essential to maintaining a contemporary presence in the global marketplace.

LINK CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN AN INNOVATIVE WAY.

Use the skill of artists and the power of the arts as a resource to imagine and create change.

FAST TRACK SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES GIVING THEM AN IMMEDIATE PRESENCE.

This approach allows long term policy, program and planning initiatives to be visible throughout the city in a timely way.

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 CITY AS LIVING LAB
CREDITS

Artist Mary Miss has been redefining how art is integrated into the public realm since the Mary Miss & Marda Kirn
early 1970s. She is interested in how artists can play a central role in addressing the
complex issues of our times. Collaboration has been essential in Miss’ work, which crosses
boundaries between landscape architecture, architecture, and urban design. Miss has
worked with historians, hydrologists, and botanists on projects as diverse as marking the
predicted flood level of Boulder, Colorado, or revealing the history of the Union Square Contributors:
Subway station in New York City. Phanat Xanamane, Mary Miss Studio
Joseph McGrath, Mary Miss Studio
Mary Miss has won numerous awards, including the 2001 New York Masterworks Award, the Scott Johnson
Centennial Medal from the American Academy in Rome in 2001, and an Honorary Doctorate Judy Hussie-Taylor
Degree from Washington University in 2000. She has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Rennie Tang
Resident Artist at the American Academy in Rome and a recipient of several New York State
Council on the Arts grants and NEA grants.

This booklet was made possible in

Marda Kirn is the founding director of EcoArts Connections, bringing together science, part thanks to the generosity of:
environmental, arts, and indigenous organizations in programming to increase awareness of
The Compton Foundation
climate change and sustainable living.
The Schramm Foundation
Our Anonymous Angel
Kirn was the founding director of the Colorado Dance Festival, which, during her 14-year
tenure, was considered one of the top three dance festivals in the US; a founding member
of the National Performance Network; and a founder and director of the International Tap
Association. Kirn has written for various publications, received numerous awards, and has
been a speaker, panelist, and/or consultant for organizations in the US, Europe, Puerto
Rico, Mexico, Cuba, and India.

Copyright 2009 Mary Miss & Marda Kirn

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