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[Mary Mattingly -- Artist]

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["Triple Island" -- 2013]

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["Mary Mattinglyâs Waterfront Development"]

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[Four Months Earlier]

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[June]

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[Pier 42 -- Lower East Side]

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This is making 10 feet,

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and then, because the barrel has the curve at the edge,

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that should allow for the one-and-a-half inch diameter

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of the two-by-fours.

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"Triple Island" is on Pier 42.

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It's right on the water,

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on the East River.

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It's kind of a place between nature and the city

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that was flooded during Hurricane Sandy.

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"Triple Island" is a three-part piece.

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There are three islands that are about sixteen feet in diameter,

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and they have 55-gallon drums underneath them

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that are secured,

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so, if need be, these structures could float.

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I think that the future that we're heading towards is...

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it looks very grim to me--

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more environmentally extreme,

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more politically extreme,

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and more economically stratified.

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"Triple Island"--it is a kind of proposal for

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a different way of working and living.

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It's thinking about,

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"What do I really need?"

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and, "What is my life like without some of the things that I want?"

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We're building up these three structures.

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This will be a living...

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This is a greenhouse.

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This is kind of an extension of gardens,

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and an area that we'll cook in,

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and stuff like that.

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So, you guys are going to be the first...

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I heard that you're going to be living in here too,

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which is amazing.

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We've been allowed to build here for a month, so far.

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So this is almost a month.

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The work that I've been doing for a while now

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is kind of inventing this entire world

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that had to do with this future that was really perverse

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and also the only alternative.

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The work started with smaller wearable structures,

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like cocoons that could cover you at night,

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and you could use as clothing during the day.

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They also could house water and some power.

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That dystopic future--it was very sad to me.

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And, breaking out of that

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was necessary at some point.

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I really started to just think about

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my own life and how--

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outside of this future that I was inventing--

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we all had to live.

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That translated into the "Flock House Project"

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where three of these spherical houses

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moved--or were choreographed--throughout the city.

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When "Flock House" was in different parks in the city,

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we could actually inhabit them

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and stay in them overnight.

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I wanted to really reflect the necessary migration

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that had to do with environmental,

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economic, and political needs to move.

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[September]

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On the one hand,

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I want "Triple Island" to be sculptural.

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And, on the other hand,

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it really needs people to exist in the space

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to come alive.

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It's pushed in a further direction--

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like closer to my personal goals with life and art--

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when there's someone here.

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To me, that means communally sharing resources--

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it's food, water, and power--

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and how can that be done in a very minimal way.

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[sound of an ambulance siren in the distance]

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[Ivan Gilbert -- Volunteer]

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[GILBERT] This is my solar power plant.

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These are my battery arrays.

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I have two arrays of car batteries

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that store all my solar power,

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which I collect from the collectors on top of the greenhouse.

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I have a refrigerator here.

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A pot-in-pot refrigerator.

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It keeps things relatively fresh.

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This is also my home.

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I've been here since the beginning of August.

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A little over a month.

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It's a lot chillier now.

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[WOMAN, OFF CAMERA] You're planning on staying for how long?

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[GILBERT] Through the end of the project,

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which is more November-ish...

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December-ish.

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But I think it's really important to...

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Like, people were like,

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"Oh, it's going to get so cold."

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But, you know, it's going to be really important

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to experience that part of the project.

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[November]

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Because Mary is really apocalyptic,

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and imagines a world in which

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you don't have a supply chain

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in which you can get your needs...

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and so she's inventing things in which

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you can still live in,

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like an urban habitat.

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I am interested in gaining

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a few more degrees of relative freedom

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from giant, like, inhuman institutions.

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[MATTINGLY] Obviously, we're at a very unbalanced time right now

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as far as who has power

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and who has control--

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and who doesn't.

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And who doesn't have access

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and who does.

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But then, the thing that I am optimistic about

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is how people, I think, can work together

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in a more grassroots and undercurrent way,

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and really make something that's a different world.

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I'd like to get to a future

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where we're actually living in this way,

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in real space and time.

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And the sculpture is just more of a symbol

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for this idea.