Maurice Dusault

"Portrait of a Drowning City" is a response to growing concerns with the way New Yorkers react to climate change. New York is under threat of rising sea levels, and disasters like Hurricane Sandy are a mere glimpse into the future. As a Dutchman coming from a country facing similar threats, I was shocked by New Yorkers' lack of awareness and sense of urgency to address this threat. My capstone project aims to examine this awkward relationship and devise a strategic plan to correct it before it's too late. My research painted a disturbing image of a city disconnected from the water which surrounds it, with its citizens unaware of their present and future interactions with the water and acting carelessly towards the effects of climate change. Overall, there was a missing link in the climate conversation: We rarely talk about how the future informs, or should inform, our present. The project focuses on creating urban interventions which shift the climate conversation to become more personal and intimate. Using art and design installations, the intervention aims to increase New Yorkers' literacy and accountability towards climate change. Life vests bearing powerful statements were installed across the city and directed New Yorkers to an online information platform (sealevel.nyc) where one could find hyper-local projections of how their neighbourhood will flood after a two-degree increase in global average temperatures.