Marie Lorenz
NYC, NY
July 1-10, 2019
In collaboration with the Commuter Biennial, curated by Laura Randall
Artist Statement
My artwork centers on urban waterways, spaces that are often contested, endangered, or in flux.
For a project called the Tide and Current Taxi, I ferry people through New York City in boats that I design and build. I study tidal charts of the harbor and use tidal current to propel the boat. The act of floating impacts our observation; we balance our own body and absorb details in the environment. This kind of looking creates something new out of something familiar, an attempt to ‘un-know’ the city. Using the tide to navigate has unlocked a secret geography for me. We see the river as the very first inhabitants of New York must have seen it, a shifting network of passages and barriers.
I publish a web-log about each trip, drawing a parallel between these ancient networks and new digital pathways. I also capture video footage and collect objects that I find washed up around the harbor, using them to make sculptures, and multichannel video installations. The harbor is like a giant centrifuge, reorganizing things that we value alongside things we throw away. I want to bring the experience of navigating through these liminal spaces into actual physical space.