Tank IV: Sludge Lines, 2026
55 gallon glass tank, salvaged infrastructure, live sediment, water and shoreline artifacts from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY
Commissioned for Flood Lines at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY September 22-28th, 2026 (NYC Climate Week)
Once a productive tidal estuary, the Gowanus Canal is now an infamously contaminated waterway. Throughout the last two centuries of industrialization its resident microorganisms have evolved to remediate our toxic trace. In this tank are featured live sediment and water from the Canal, creating a vessel to contemplate these hard to see but vibrant cohabitants.
The borders of the waterway were redrawn to fit the geometries of urban development and it is now far from the natural flood buffer of an estuary. Its margins continue to be hardened with a new impermeable concrete bottom to contain contamination.
By watching what grows slowly in this inhospitable place, can we develop unexpected sensitivities and responsibilities towards the often overlooked actors in our urban coastal environments – the microscopic, the nonhuman, the nonliving?
Designed and Produced by Collective Scope.
Tank IV grows out Tanks I-III from CHANNEL at BioBat Art Space
