36.5 / Bass Harbor was a spontaneous poetic gesture that came out of months of contemplation about the parallel between an individual struggle to survive on a daily basis and the struggle for humanity to survive in the face of sea-level rise. 21 other artists witnessed that initial performance.
“While in the water in Maine, I realized that this project was the beginning of a series. I made a commitment to myself to do the second iteration exactly six months later and the third iteration exactly one year later.”
with Barn Arts Collective
“On Monday, August 12, 2013,
I was sitting on the rocks by a tidal bay in Maine,
thinking about New York City’s current relationship to water
and the contemporary relationship of art to suffering and sacrifice.
The tide was rising and I marveled at how quickly the environment changed.
Rocks were being swallowed whole.
Oh, the strength of the moon!
My foot was soon underwater and it looked other-worldly.
I imagined a human being in the middle of the bay, water slowly moving upward.
I imagined my own body being swallowed and then the water subsiding, leaving me bare.
It had to be done – this was urgent!
Thursday, August 15 was three days away.
It would be my ½ birthday – an ideal moment to begin this new measurement of time.”