So you kinda liked Robert Smithson's posthumous Floating Island, but after a minute or two, you got that gnawing "So what?" feeling, yet didn't want to voice it for fear of being labeled a philistine or something. Perhaps the tree hugger in you will leap for joy to learn that a new foliage-dappled barge is on its way and this one has a message: peace, love and purified-river-water veggies.
Ted Kaplow's New York Sun Works is planning this May to launch a 120-foot Science Barge (a "Hydroponic Energy Farm," if you will) in the Hudson River, to be powered by wind and solar energy and employ lots of other earth-friendly techniques. As for the tomatoes and cucumbers? They won't be free, but you'll be able to buy them at a greenmarket.
· Science Imitating Art [The Real Estate]
· The Science Barge [NYSunWorks]
· Paparazzi Circling, Floating Island Soldiers On [Curbed]