In this final Dialogue of the Designing for Public Life program series, artist Mary Miss will present her New York City work and discuss founding the City as a Living Laboratory (CALL), where sustainability is made tangible through the arts.
City as a Living Laboratory uses the power of art and science to promote understanding of critical environmental challenges in local communities and spur action for sustainable solutions. Working with artists, scientists, and residents of urban communities, CALL helps imagine sustainable solutions for urgent environmental issues including climate, equity, and health. Through CALL’s work, people connect environmental challenges to personal experiences and take action.
Mary Miss has had a 50-year career expanding the role of art and artists. Over her career, her work has increasingly involved collaborations with other artists, architects, landscape architects and finally, with the founding of City as a Living Laboratory, with experts in all fields. What has remained consistent is her desire to investigate the built environment and how the public engages with the natural world and the built systems they often take for granted.
Bringing an artist’s perspective to physical examples of public places and how we inhabit them, some of the themes that will be examined are:
- What role does art play in expanding sustainable solutions for communities?
- How do interdisciplinary collaborations reshape the experience of public space?
- How can people connect to environmental challenges through direct experience in NYC’s public places?
