Just back from a vacation. Sorry if this response is belated. Eric Siegel wrote about a project in Phoenix (his email is copied below). Though I share his enthusiasm, I believe some of his details are incorrect. The project is The 27th Avenue Waste Management Facility in Phoenix. The TWO artists who worked on the project were Linnea Glatt and Michael Singer. In January 1994, Ms. Glatt spoke at "Rising Above our Garbage", which was a three day conference sponsored by the Exploratorium in San Francisco for which I was Symposium Coordinator. Ms. Glatt was present in person and Mr. Singer came in via telephone. Ronald Jensen, Director of Public Works, City of Phoenix, added his thoughts (also in person). Throughout the talks, the architects and engineers who worked on the project were neglected and almost dismissed, which seemed suspect to me and even more so when I saw the building months later (albeit, only from the outside, but still enough to recognize that at least the engineers MUST have played a major role). Linnea called the collaboration with Michael an arranged marriage and a "clobberation". The project has been widely touted as a success and I believe in many ways it is -- as well as a tremendous, positive example -- but the process seemed to have been grueling and the positions of those involved, murky (pun intended). If "Fresh Kills" is merely being open to the public I'd bet it's a big deal from both the process point of view and that of the visitor. Simply opening it up to the public may not be enough by way of either access, information, or interpretation, but a visit to the 40-plus year old, three thousand acre landfill site, listed in the Guiness Book of Records as the largest anywhere, with height and volume challenging the greatest of the Great Egyptian pyramids and the Great Wall of China as one of the largest man-made sites in the world, and which may already be or soon become (I'm not sure which) the tallest mountain on the Atlantic coast -- would be eye-opening at least. Mindy Lehrman Cameron [log in to unmask] Below is Eric Siegel' s email of March 29: The landfill "exhibit" that NYC is doing is a sad shadow of the fascinating Michael Singer waste processing plant in Phoenix. Though I've not seen it, I was initially struck in around 1991 by the reports about the project, talking about how Michael, a conceptual artist and sculptor, was given control over a massive public works project. He led the team that included the architect and engineers, and created one of the most popular tourist attractions in Phoenix (or so I read in a Times article in the early 90's) and a resource for environmental education. All out of a solid waste processing plant, in which visitors can watch the entire process from catwalks. Again, I've not been there, but it sounds like a wonderful project. NY is obviously copping some of the same ideas, but without investing in ways to make this accessible and engaging. They are just apparently opening it to tourists and providing docents, or something. There was some discussion a while back about trying to do something like Michael's project with a major water filtration plant planned for New York. But it got lost in the political shuffle. Getting anything done in public works in this city is pretty tough. Thought, they have finally started "WESTWAY" after twenty years of litigation. It's now called, I think, the Hudson River Boulevard. Eric Siegel [log in to unmask]