Artist Mary Miss Sees City as Living Laboratory

December 29, 2011  |   Feature
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Since the late 1960s, New York-based artist Mary Miss has reshaped the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, landscape design and installation art. 

A pioneer of environmental art, Miss creates major temporary and permanent outdoor art projects that are thoughtfully integrated into public spaces. 

For Des Moines, Iowa, she collaborated with community based organizations to create “Greenwood Pond: Double Site.”

Miss is acclaimed for her work with architects, planners, engineers, ecologists and public administrators. Her past projects include a proposal to create a temporary memorial around the perimeter of Ground Zero; marking the predicted flood level in Boulder, Colorado; revealing the history of the Union Square Subway station in New York City; and turning a sewage treatment plant into a public space.

Here her Indiana  project called “FLOW: Can You See the River?” is featured. It was commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, with concurrent activities facilitated by EcoArts Connections and more than 20 leading Indianapolis arts, science, environment, and municipal organizations and agencies.  This project is supported in part by the NEA.

"FLOW: Can You See the River?" was part of Miss' (pictured left) wider initiative "City as Living Laboratory: Sustainability Made Tangible Through the Arts." The project helped to foster collaborations within cities to make sustainability an issue that is personal, visceral, and actionable.