DAY 5:
Studio visit and "Manhattan Tundra" workshop with Elizabeth Demaray
We spent the day with Rutgers faculty and esteemed artist Elizabeth Demaray, who is known for her work on ecology and the anthropocene. We started out at her live/work space in DUMBO where we learned about her artistic drive to help the environment and improve interspecies cohabitation, evident in her work such as "Sweaters for Plants" and "PandoraBird." After visiting the 9/11 memorial, we migrated over to World Trade Center 4, where she currently has run of the empty 65th floor as part of an artist residency program. Despite the snow storm weather, the views from WTC4 were stunning, and acted as a catalyst for the workshop we did in the afternoon. Inspired by Elizabeth's upcoming "Manhattan Tundra Project," students divided into groups and devised novel uses for the empty rooftops of Manhattan. Their solutions included a yoga/meditation and garden space, a stepped-agricultural system, an alpine tree park, and a green space with a sundial as viewed from above.
