On October 5, 2013, Socrates Sculpture Park presented “Gap Ecology (Three Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms)” by David Brooks, as part of Marfa Dialogues/NY. “Gap Ecology” at Socrates consisted of three “cherry pickers”, or aerial boom lifts – common pieces of heavy machinery that tend to live on job sites throughout the duration of large construction projects. Placed at Socrates – an urban landscape that has undergone a visible infrastructural development, as well as a building dormancy, and adaptations that account for development’s affect on a neighborhood – “Gap Ecology” acted as a beacon to passersby of the ongoing change and evolution in their built and natural environment.

That afternoon, David Brooks’ sculptural intervention, “Gap Ecology,” also served as the setting for a panel discussion between urban designer Claire Weisz, artist Mary Mattingly and David Brooks, on issues of urban environmental action and intervention.