0:00:13.517,0:00:16.646 [Mary Mattingly -- Artist] 0:00:18.635,0:00:22.806 ["Triple Island" -- 2013] 0:00:32.171,0:00:37.555 ["Mary Mattingly's Waterfront Development"] 0:00:46.615,0:00:49.556 [Four Months Earlier] 0:00:49.556,0:00:51.718 [June] 0:00:56.352,0:00:59.551 [Pier 42 -- Lower East Side] 0:01:00.108,0:01:01.286 This is making 10 feet, 0:01:01.286,0:01:04.222 and then, because the barrel has the curve at the edge, 0:01:04.222,0:01:07.990 that should allow for the one-and-a-half inch diameter 0:01:07.990,0:01:09.653 of the two-by-fours. 0:01:13.025,0:01:15.421 "Triple Island" is on Pier 42. 0:01:15.421,0:01:16.655 It's right on the water, 0:01:16.655,0:01:17.886 on the East River. 0:01:18.223,0:01:21.990 It's kind of a place between nature and the city 0:01:21.990,0:01:24.422 that was flooded during Hurricane Sandy. 0:01:26.716,0:01:30.085 "Triple Island" is a three-part piece. 0:01:30.325,0:01:33.392 There are three islands that are about sixteen feet in diameter, 0:01:33.392,0:01:36.715 and they have 55-gallon drums underneath them 0:01:36.715,0:01:37.822 that are secured, 0:01:37.822,0:01:40.886 so, if need be, these structures could float. 0:01:48.285,0:01:51.560 I think that the future that we're heading towards is... 0:01:51.560,0:01:53.160 it looks very grim to me-- 0:01:53.160,0:01:54.453 more environmentally extreme, 0:01:54.453,0:01:55.792 more politically extreme, 0:01:55.792,0:01:58.116 and more economically stratified. 0:02:00.591,0:02:03.114 "Triple Island"--it is a kind of proposal for 0:02:03.114,0:02:06.559 a different way of working and living. 0:02:06.751,0:02:07.832 It's thinking about, 0:02:07.832,0:02:09.485 "What do I really need?" 0:02:09.485,0:02:13.591 and, "What is my life like without some of the things that I want?" 0:02:15.216,0:02:18.117 We're building up these three structures. 0:02:18.117,0:02:19.087 This will be a living... 0:02:19.087,0:02:20.160 This is a greenhouse. 0:02:20.160,0:02:22.422 This is kind of an extension of gardens, 0:02:22.422,0:02:24.547 and an area that we'll cook in, 0:02:24.547,0:02:25.354 and stuff like that. 0:02:25.354,0:02:28.114 So, you guys are going to be the first... 0:02:28.114,0:02:30.393 I heard that you're going to be living in here too, 0:02:30.393,0:02:31.747 which is amazing. 0:02:32.522,0:02:35.109 We've been allowed to build here for a month, so far. 0:02:35.109,0:02:36.811 So this is almost a month. 0:02:46.031,0:02:48.454 The work that I've been doing for a while now 0:02:48.454,0:02:50.360 is kind of inventing this entire world 0:02:50.360,0:02:53.318 that had to do with this future that was really perverse 0:02:53.318,0:02:55.991 and also the only alternative. 0:02:56.961,0:02:59.622 The work started with smaller wearable structures, 0:02:59.622,0:03:02.453 like cocoons that could cover you at night, 0:03:02.453,0:03:05.486 and you could use as clothing during the day. 0:03:05.486,0:03:09.518 They also could house water and some power. 0:03:12.959,0:03:16.499 That dystopic future--it was very sad to me. 0:03:16.499,0:03:18.392 And, breaking out of that 0:03:19.902,0:03:22.054 was necessary at some point. 0:03:22.548,0:03:24.314 I really started to just think about 0:03:24.314,0:03:26.360 my own life and how-- 0:03:26.360,0:03:30.749 outside of this future that I was inventing-- 0:03:30.749,0:03:32.223 we all had to live. 0:03:36.275,0:03:40.718 That translated into the "Flock House Project" 0:03:40.718,0:03:45.421 where three of these spherical houses 0:03:46.101,0:03:49.053 moved--or were choreographed--throughout the city. 0:03:49.343,0:03:52.655 When "Flock House" was in different parks in the city, 0:03:52.655,0:03:54.716 we could actually inhabit them 0:03:54.716,0:03:57.161 and we could stay in them overnight. 0:03:58.654,0:04:01.488 I wanted to really reflect the necessary migration 0:04:01.488,0:04:03.622 that had to do with environmental, 0:04:03.622,0:04:06.884 economic, and political needs to move. 0:04:10.500,0:04:15.849 [September] 0:04:19.294,0:04:20.687 On the one hand, 0:04:20.687,0:04:23.422 I want "Triple Island" to be sculptural. 0:04:23.422,0:04:24.884 And, on the other hand, 0:04:24.884,0:04:27.422 it really needs people to exist in the space 0:04:27.422,0:04:29.023 to come alive. 0:04:29.360,0:04:32.291 It's pushed in a further direction-- 0:04:32.291,0:04:38.655 like closer to my personal goals with life and art-- 0:04:38.961,0:04:40.623 when there's someone here. 0:04:43.622,0:04:46.959 To me, that means communally sharing resources-- 0:04:46.959,0:04:50.054 it's food, water, and power-- 0:04:50.054,0:04:53.653 and how can that be done in a very minimal way. 0:05:01.855,0:05:04.591 [sound of an ambulance siren in the distance] 0:05:15.493,0:05:18.919 [Ivan Gilbert -- Volunteer] 0:05:25.237,0:05:27.191 [GILBERT] This is my solar power plant. 0:05:27.191,0:05:29.360 These are my battery arrays. 0:05:29.360,0:05:31.592 I have two arrays of car batteries 0:05:31.592,0:05:33.345 that store all my solar power, 0:05:33.345,0:05:35.793 which I collect from the collectors on top of the greenhouse. 0:05:36.654,0:05:37.885 I have a refrigerator here. 0:05:38.516,0:05:40.315 A pot-in-pot refrigerator. 0:05:41.149,0:05:43.361 It keeps things relatively fresh. 0:05:44.945,0:05:46.236 This is also my home. 0:05:46.723,0:05:49.131 I've been here since the beginning of August. 0:05:49.960,0:05:50.992 A little over a month. 0:05:51.642,0:05:53.094 It's a lot chillier now. 0:05:53.104,0:05:55.021 [WOMAN, OFF CAMERA] You're planning on staying for how long? 0:05:55.021,0:05:56.391 [GILBERT] Through the end of the project, 0:05:56.391,0:05:58.283 which is more November-ish... 0:05:58.283,0:05:59.280 December-ish. 0:05:59.619,0:06:01.459 But I think it's really important to... 0:06:01.683,0:06:03.453 Like, people were like, 0:06:03.559,0:06:04.883 "Oh, it's going to get so cold." 0:06:04.883,0:06:07.759 But, you know, it's going to be really important 0:06:07.759,0:06:09.972 to experience that part of the project. 0:06:10.816,0:06:13.413 [November] 0:06:20.676,0:06:22.560 Because Mary is really apocalyptic, 0:06:22.560,0:06:24.484 and imagines a world in which 0:06:24.484,0:06:26.391 you don't have a supply chain 0:06:26.391,0:06:27.990 in which you can get your needs... 0:06:27.990,0:06:29.946 and so she's inventing things in which 0:06:29.946,0:06:30.990 you can still live in, 0:06:30.990,0:06:32.441 like an urban habitat. 0:06:32.863,0:06:34.191 I am interested in gaining 0:06:34.191,0:06:36.750 a few more degrees of relative freedom 0:06:37.359,0:06:40.485 from giant, like, inhuman institutions. 0:06:55.791,0:06:58.559 [MATTINGLY] Obviously, we're at a very unbalanced time right now 0:06:58.760,0:07:00.116 as far as who has power 0:07:00.116,0:07:01.347 and who has control-- 0:07:01.347,0:07:03.114 and who doesn't. 0:07:03.114,0:07:04.370 And who doesn't have access 0:07:04.370,0:07:05.417 and who does. 0:07:07.078,0:07:10.145 But then, the thing that I am optimistic about 0:07:10.145,0:07:13.289 is how people, I think, can work together 0:07:13.289,0:07:16.453 in a more grassroots and undercurrent way, 0:07:16.453,0:07:20.685 and really make something that's a different world. 0:07:23.575,0:07:25.685 I'd like to get to a future 0:07:25.685,0:07:28.192 where we're actually living in this way, 0:07:28.192,0:07:30.914 in real space and time. 0:07:32.851,0:07:35.221 And the sculpture is just more of a symbol 0:07:35.221,0:07:36.921 for this idea.