WHAT \ U.N. Safe Planet Campaign \ Art Exhibitions & Public Outreach

S.S. Palo Alto Project

The S.S. Palo Alto Project is a proposal for a new public ArtPark focusing on the sustainability of the ocean environment. Located off of Seacliff State Beach on the West Coast of the U.S., it has the potential to become a rallying symbol for the precarious future of California's State Parks, and the health of the world's oceans.

As an eco-friendly attraction to Seacliff's four million annual visitors, focusing on sustaining the unique marine life of the surrounding Monterey Bay, the beloved 'Cement Ship' will continue gracefully sinking to the sea floor off the pier at Aptos, while providing an international educational and recreational platform. The Ship, which is slowly becoming a new reef, will be filled with imaginative kinetic and solar sculptures as will the 400 foot long pier leading out to the S.S. Palo Alto.  All sculptures are completely safe and non-obtrusive to the delicate balance of the eco-system, and are made with natural biodegradable materials or otherwise non-toxic systems.

10-12 local and international artists have been invited to create new works of art on the Ship, along the pier, and with an interior space at the California State Parks Visitor's Center nearby. All access to the ship itself is closed. Viewing will be possible for miles up and down the coast. Pressing environmental issues will be addressed in the various projects, including: alternative potable water sources, marine debris, ship-breaking, endangerment of the local marine life due to chemical and plastic pollutants, PoPs presence in the ocean, clean alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power, and more. There will be a bicycle-powered milkshake "machine" for thirsty tourists, and an effort to convert the nearby concessions stand to a green example of organic and healthy food packaged in recyclable containers. An underwater live video camera around the ship will feed to the Visitor's Center up the beach, giving people a real vision of life under water.

Along each side of the pier will be sets of 30 standing steel panels, approximately human height and 3 feet wide, each illustrating a sustainable theme, piece of history, or marine animal, of the Monterey Bay. They will be soundly bolted to the pier flooring, impervious to winter storms. And unobtrusive, so as to not block the beautiful views as one walks out to the ship. The Visitor's Center can also potentially be renovated and expanded to incorporate the new site specific information and technology.

Our team is to be composed of artists and environmentalists, marine biologists, scientists, sea explorers, architects, activists, designers, and an engineer. Working in tandem with colleagues at the University of California at Santa Cruz, in the new Social Practice Arts Resource Center, as well both the Art and Marine Science Departments, we look forward to working with the abundance of world class local marine research labs of the Monterey Bay.

We are in dialogue with the Friends of the California State Parks  to make the "Cement Ship" as it is colloquially called, a place for environmental awareness and public outreach on the pending marine issues of our time. We hope to call attention to not only the plight of the marine environment, but California State Parks, who actually own the Ship. The S.S. Palo Alto ArtPark project is also championed by the United Nations SAFE PLANET Campaign, (under the auspices of the the 3 Secretariats of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions).

Various organizations, besides ArtDialogue, along with private sources, will be helping to raise the funding to support the S.S. Palo Alto ArtPark long into the future. Written into our budget is a long term maintenance aspect, so that all art works will continue to function indefinitely, as long as they are visible above water. This will be at no cost to the State Parks system, but conversely, will hopefully contribute to raising much needed revenues.

Art represents the creative spirit of humankind, and the positive force of new ideas, technology, imagination. All sculptures would be environmentally sound and harmless to marine life.

This act points to the future of the California State Parks, whose mandate includes providing recreation, promoting preservation, and fostering imagination. Building an environmentally friendly sculpture garden on the Ship now could be just the positive momentum California needs to take the lead in public awareness about our environment and imagining the future we so desperately need. Not only locally, but globally.

Learn more about the SS Palo Alto HERE!

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Barbara Benish

Project Organizer & Director, ArtMill/Art Dialogue

www.artmill.eu

www.bbenish.net