(2013) Gap Ecology (Three Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms)

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.