Introducing Swale – A Floating, Food-Producing Eco-System

A new piece of concept art by Mary Mattingly may be floating down the Hudson River next summer, if all comes to fruition. The project, named Swale, is intended to be part art installation, part floating biodome which residents can enter and harvest produce from.

The idea behind the installation is that it will suck up water from the wetlands along the Hudson River, filter it to remove impurities or pollutants and then use it feed plants on board the structure, which themselves will be edible and free for locals to consume.

Still in the Planning Stages

Currently, a team of local experienced gardeners are working with students from Dwight-Englewood, Fairfield University and Stuyvesant High School to try and work out the finer mathematics of the system. Meanwhile, the US coast guard have been in talks with landscape architects and a nautical engineer in order to devise a suitable structure for the installation, which will most likely be created from shipping containers and wooden beams.

Early blueprints for the project have included entrance gangways and walkways among the plants, suggesting that Mattingly intends for residents of different cities along the Hudson to board the installation themselves and walk through the edible artwork.

It is hoped that it will be ready in time for the summer of 2016 and can spend months floating down the Hudson River, stopping at a selection of cities along the way.

Promoting Awareness and Providing Sustenance

As well as being an innovative way to distribute food among the residents of Hudson River cities, the main intent of the project is to raise awareness about our profligacy as a species. Mattingly is hoping to draw attention to the vast amount of waste and general inefficiency of large-scale food supply networks by bringing a green space to the doorsteps of city dwellers. The Hudson River is an especially apt location for the green floating installation as a way to highlight damage to the environment, since the waterway itself was deemed too polluted for swimmers last year.

In recognition of its attempt to bring about social change through the medium of art, Swale is being partly financed by A Blade of Grass, an organisation who are committed to promoting exactly those sorts of ideas.

This is certainly not the first time that art and science have come together to produce something unexpected, but it may well be one of the most practical products of the marriage. Back in 2010, weather station supply giant Campbell Scientific announced their involvement in a musical project intended to capture the sound of the weather.

While the project did indeed raise interesting ideas and musicalize the elements in a way previously unheard of, it did not really raise many important social issues or give back tangible returns in the form of food and sustainable produce. Swale aims to do exactly that; whether or not it comes to fruition remains to be seen, but for now, Mattingly has certainly hit upon an interesting idea.