Writer, media activist, and performance artist Dave will bring Trust Art’s sense of renewal to two of the U.S’s most polluted industrial sites, where he will perform a healing ritual aimed at de-toxifying the environment and spirit therein. He will also channel his alter ego, the Raven, to re energize the earth.

For the duration of the performance, the site, a lot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on the shore of the confluences of the East River and Newton Creek, will be converted into evaporation ponds for sea salt harvesting. Newton Creek, site to an underground oil spill estimated at 17-30 million gallons, is considered one of the most polluted bodies of water in North America. While the salt processed out of the water is naturally occurring, the industrial backdrop to the site cannot but remind the viewer of the variety of other material that may be present.

The evaporation process will expose the hidden material nature of the site, removing the water, and crystallizing the soluble contents on the pan. Installed at the site will be a series of twenty 4’x10’ salt pans formed using packed sand covered with waterproof fabric. Each pan will be level with a 1.5” lip to allow a small amount of water, hand-hauled from the creek, to be thinly spread across surface. In the heat of the summer, the sun will evaporate the water, depositing the salts and minerals dissolved therein. The deposits will be scraped off the surface during the harvesting and collected both for display and use as a crystal material in future projects. For a one month period Vulture will work daily to harvest salt from the site.

Like the water vessel placements, this project distinguishes the specific components of a site in order to expose the relationship of our bodies to the site. Because of the industrial pollution throughout the area, our relationship to it is contradictory. While the harvesting process will expose the salt, a necessary supplement, its purity be called into question by the industrial surroundings. The presence of the material will foster the bodily recognition of the toxicity of the site as we contemplate the ramifications of its consumption and the irreparability of industrial pollution.

Writer, media activist, and performance artist Dave will bring Trust Art’s sense of renewal to two of the U.S’s most polluted industrial sites, where he will perform a healing ritual aimed at de-toxifying the environment and spirit therein. He will also channel his alter ego, the Raven, to re energize the earth.

For the duration of the performance, the site, a lot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on the shore of the confluences of the East River and Newton Creek, will be converted into evaporation ponds for sea salt harvesting. Newton Creek, site to an underground oil spill estimated at 17-30 million gallons, is considered one of the most polluted bodies of water in North America. While the salt processed out of the water is naturally occurring, the industrial backdrop to the site cannot but remind the viewer of the variety of other material that may be present.

The evaporation process will expose the hidden material nature of the site, removing the water, and crystallizing the soluble contents on the pan. Installed at the site will be a series of twenty 4’x10’ salt pans formed using packed sand covered with waterproof fabric. Each pan will be level with a 1.5” lip to allow a small amount of water, hand-hauled from the creek, to be thinly spread across surface. In the heat of the summer, the sun will evaporate the water, depositing the salts and minerals dissolved therein. The deposits will be scraped off the surface during the harvesting and collected both for display and use as a crystal material in future projects. For a one month period Vulture will work daily to harvest salt from the site.

Like the water vessel placements, this project distinguishes the specific components of a site in order to expose the relationship of our bodies to the site. Because of the industrial pollution throughout the area, our relationship to it is contradictory. While the harvesting process will expose the salt, a necessary supplement, its purity be called into question by the industrial surroundings. The presence of the material will foster the bodily recognition of the toxicity of the site as we contemplate the ramifications of its consumption and the irreparability of industrial pollution.