Mary Miss’ Innovative Public Art

April 9, 2012  |   Feature,   News
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BROADWAY: 1000 STEPS received support from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s Artistic Innovation and Collaboration Program.

“We are delighted to support Mary Miss / City as a Living Laboratory’s project, BROADWAY: 1,000 STEPS, which directly represents our goals for furthering collaborative works which integrate art into new and innovative outcomes. The multi-disciplinary investigation of our city using data from scientists, urban planners, environmentalists thru the eyes of an artist will transform how we experience the everyday.” said Christy MacLear, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

Broadway: 1000 Steps is an initiative to establish Broadway as the new "green corridor" of New York City. Twenty "hubs" dispersed along the length of Broadway will serve as sites for collaboration between Mary Miss Studio, research scientists, municipal policy makers, and local community groups.
Mary Miss' public art installation in NYC aims to shift awareness about climate change and sustainability.
The BROADWAY: 1000 STEPS art installation plans to make sustainability local and tangible for NYC residents and visitors. Along the length of Broadway individuals can learn about existing environmental problems and sustainable solutions. The series of hubs consist of groupings of mirrors suspended from poles that reflect hidden climate and sustainability issues in the neighborhood.

The primary message is that “nature is everywhere and in action at all times, that the city is an urban ecosystem, that an innumerable number of small decisions over time have shaped the environment to be the one we inhabit today, and that our decisions (behavioral choices) impact the future of all of nature.”

As pedestrians approach Montefiore Park, a field of green vertical structures defined the area. Visitors encountered convex mirrors installed at various heights reflecting their own image as well as fragments of the city. Color-coded markings around manhole covers, storm-water inlets, and light posts help decode the site’s existing infrastructure. The specific topic addressed at this site was food as related to health.