Rivers, Dreams, Invisible Cities

What has your rela­tion­ship to water been, and what is it currently?

What are your future dreams for water in your community?

These ques­tions ani­mate Rivers, Dreams, Invis­i­ble Cities, a pub­lic art instal­la­tion offered by City Artist Corps Grant recip­i­ent and 2018 Works on Water Artist in Res­i­dence Maya Ciarrocchi. 

Maya Cia­r­roc­chi has been cre­at­ing art and research projects inves­ti­gat­ing the impact of urban­iza­tion and devel­op­ment on water sys­tems and com­mu­ni­ty access to water for sev­er­al years. Her instal­la­tion in the Works on Water House on Gov­er­nors Island com­pris­es sus­pend­ed cyan­otype prints on silk illus­trat­ing past and present tra­jec­to­ries of New York City water­ways whose shore­lines are inac­ces­si­ble to city res­i­dents. Also includ­ed are ren­der­ings of fan­tas­ti­cal cities belong­ing to an imag­ined future. Each print tells an indi­vid­ual sto­ry, and their merg­ing man­i­fests a reimag­ined city for­ev­er altered by cli­mate change. 

Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Artist Maya Cia­r­roc­chi is one of 3000+ New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants pro­gram, pre­sent­ed by The New York Foun­da­tion for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Depart­ment of Cul­tur­al Affairs (DCLA), with sup­port from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Enter­tain­ment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre.