Winners of the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative Competition for Freshkills Park in Staten Island, NYC are out. With 4 placed winners and a long list of shortlisted projects, the range of ideas shows how designers are exploring many different options for sustainable energy infrastructure.
The Winners:
- First: Scene-Sensor // Crossing Social and Ecological Flows byJames Murray and Shota Vashakmadze
- Second: Fresh Hills by Matthew Rosenberg, Structural Engineering Consultant: Matt Melnyk, Production Assistants: Emmy Maruta, Robbie Eleazer
- Third: Pivot by Yunxin Hu and Ben Smith
- Fourth: 99 Red Balloons by Emeka Nnadi, Scott Rosin, Meaghan Hunter, Danielle Loeb, Kara McDowell, Indrajit Mitra, Narges Ayat and Denis Fleury
Check out the projects after the break!
First Place: Scene-Sensor // Crossing Social and Ecological Flows Artist Team: James Murray, Shota Vashakmadze Artist Location: Atlanta, USA Energy Technologies: Piezoelectric Generators (Thin Film and Embedded Wire) Annual Capacity: 5,500 MWh
Key interactions of human and ecological energies, above and below the surface of Freshkills, drive complex environmental flows, allowing us to question how to sense, channel, and harness their energies in a productive tension, revealing their interconnected fluctuations in beneficial ways. Scene-Sensor situates itself at the intersection of flows joining and separating opposing landforms: as a channel screen, harnessing the flows of wind through the tidal artery, and as vantage points, staging crosswise pedestrian flows through the park, the two acting in combination as a mirror-window, reflecting and revealing the scene of Freshkills’ fluctuating landscape back to itself.
Second Place: Fresh Hills Artist Team: Matthew Rosenberg Structural Engineering Consultant: Matt Melnyk Production Assistants: Emmy Maruta, Robbie Eleazer Artist Location: Los Angeles, USA Energy Technologies: WindTamer, Carbon Dioxide Scrubber, SmartWrap Annual Capacity: 238 MWh
As we approach Fresh Hills, the undulating mounds appear to be natural elements growing from the earth. The closer we get, however, it is clear that this structure, like the mounds below it, are not native to the recently capped Fresh Kills Landfill site. Its form rests lightly on the existing topography and creates definition across the expansive horizon. It caresses the East mound, creating a seamless integration between utility-scale energy harnessing and a program-filled landscape. It creates a harmonious relationship between earth and wind. Fresh Hills is a remedy for the typical turbine farm that so often isolates the landscape and discourages communities from engaging the space.
Third Place: PIVOT Artist Team: Yunxin Hu and Ben Smith Artist Location: Atlanta, USA Energy Technologies: Piezoelectric disks and fabric Annual Capacity: 1,200 MWh
Central to Freshkills’ future is the fluctuating nature of its two key conditions—the gradual sinking of its landfill and rising of its surrounding sea level—making our challenge how to transform these potential problems into opportunities for land art. PIVOT answers with two intertwining operations: a floating ‘terra nova’ constructed at the moving line between these conditions that frame it while replacing lost terrain; and a gathering of the human and wind energies flowing along ‘the Kill/Confluence.’
Fourth Place: 99 Red Balloons Artist Team: Emeka Nnadi, Scott Rosin, Meaghan Hunter, Danielle Loeb, Kara McDowell, Indrajit Mitra, Narges Ayat, Denis Fleury Artist Location: Winnipeg, Canada Energy Technologies: Solar panels and piezoelectric panels Annual Capacity: 14,000 MWh
An excerpt from the 1984 song “99 Red Balloons”, this verse evokes visions of loss, hope, memory, and the perseverance of dreams for a redemptive and meaningful future. Inspired by these images, 99 Red Balloons is a thoughtful proposal for a metaphorical souvenir — proof that something redeeming and beautiful can rise out of the ‘dust’ that has been placed on the land by human activity and the accumulation of society’s waste.
Text Courtesy of the artists
Visit Land Art Generator Initiative for a complete list of the shortlisted projects.
