TRANSCRIPTEASE New York City's First Solar Powered Oyster Reef-a living art work  growing in the intertidal zone at  COLLEGE POINT, MCNEIL PARK, Queens NYC:

"My work is universal as it portrays the functioning of life’s minutia on a grand scale, depicting what lies outside of our immediate perception, and thus cutting through pre-existing notions of gender race and class. Through my art, I hope to bridge the gap between technology and nature to inspire a new way of looking at our relationship with the planet and ourselves."

For the past year Artist Mara G. Haseltine has immersed herself in what she has described as “The Great New York Oyster Movement.” This cross-disciplinary project involves marine biologists, Environmental Scientists, Community  Activists and Oyster Farmers and Gardeners work to find the best solutions for restoring oyster beds which historically graced new York’s Waterways to their pre-industrial condition.  In June 2007   Haseltine installed her first sculpture, an oyster reef in College Point, Queens New York. 

"My most current projects combine minute structures from the nano-world with environmental technology to create a series of living sculptures employing ‘biomimicry’. I am working in collaboration with a team of marine biologists to create a living eco-system of functional underwater sculptures"

Why OYSTERS?

The idea is to bring back Crassotrea Virginica, the indigenous of Oysters, to New York, which would create a natural filtration system that cleans the waters and simultaneously brings back biodiversity that has been missing since in New York’s waters and estuaries since  the Industrial revolution.

Oysters are the backbone of the benthic habitat and can act as  natural water Treatment plants. The average oyster filters 5-25 gallons of  "nutrient" rich water per day. The restoration of 100 square miles of reef would  filter the Annual twenty seven billion tons of wastewater that flows into New  York's Waterways annually* the reef would not only be a haven for oysters but would quickly become a diverse habitat for aquatic life of all forms from gastropods to Stripped Bass.

WHY ART and OYSTERS?

As an artist a Haseltine says she finds this project exciting because  the project is,

“An optimistic fusion between technology, science, art and environmental design. We are actually devising ways to improve upon nature and the way oyster reefs function in the wild while keeping the rich history of where oysters originated and they functioned in mind .  In an age where the public is constantly hearing about the devastating  effects of climate degradation an art project like this offers a  beacon of hope.  It is the first sculpture I have ever made that is  literally alive and is meant to morph and grow, I can not begin to  tell you how exciting this prospect is for me”

In June of 2007 Haseltine created and installed her first oyster reef  a pilot project experiment in New York City McNeil Park College Point  Queens.  The project is the first of its kind in New York City using  low volts of electricity from solar panels to produce a calcium  carbonate accretion conducive to oyster growth a process called  “Bedrock” originally developed by Architect Wolf Hilbritz http:// www.biorock.net/ . Haseltine collaborated with Marine biologists: Dr. James Cervino from Pace University & Visiting Scientist Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.  Department of Marine Chemistry the Global Coral Reef Alliance  President Marine Biologist, and Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Thomas  Goreau,  Colombia University Graduate student Katlin Baird and  engineering student Michael DiDonato.

For this reef Haseltine’s concept was to create a modular design in  metal, using solar panels to send low volts of electricity to metal and thus causing mineral accretion to occur as calcium carbonate to formed on the structures. 

In the wild, oyster larvae typically settle on oyster shells  which are composed of  to calcium carbonate or limestone.  So with  this experiment the calcium carbonate covered surfaces of the metal  will in time become ideal settling spots for oyster larvae.

In keeping with her previous work Haseltine’s looked to the microscopic realm  to find the perfect shape for her structures and created a design inspired by the double helix in the act of transcription of RNA . Haseltine playfully dubbed the sculpture “TRANSCRIPTEASE”  as double-helix shapes unwind around the seem to  dance around the pilings bringing both aesthetic beauty and optimal  functionality to the project. “TRANSCRIPTEASE “ doubles as a teaching  tool the sculptures depict DNA in the act of replication, one  sculpture is a fully formed DNA helix, and the other depicts the DNA  in the act of unraveling into the two separate strands of messenger  RNA (mRNA).

The vertical twisted forms are optimal for oyster beds because it’s vertical shape allows for water to flow freely thus allowing oysters to receive the maximum amount of nutrients and keeps oysters above the sediment at the bottom. Vertical structures with plenty of ventilation space where nutrients can reach the oysters have proved to be the best way to grow healthy oysters.  This design is actually an improvement on the typical oyster midden in which the oysters at the bottom are often smothered in sediment or covered by other oysters at the top of the pile so the ones on the bottom literally starve. To offset this problem, Haseltine’s created a design inspired by the double helix  design allows for water to flow freely thus allowing oysters to  receive the maximum amount of nutrients. In this prototype Haseltine  utilized architecture of pre-existing wooden pilings as a structural  support to create vertical structures.

In this installation Haseltine utilized the architecture of pre- existing wooden pilings as a structural support for the reef.   This would is an enviromentally sound and elegant use of the pilings which cannot be removed as  they are considered hazardous waste and are found throughout the  coastline of New York’s waterways.  The use of the pilings has the  advantage of more strength as well as saving space while still  enjoying the advantages of re-creating a biodiverse habitat, which  would not interfere with Benthic or bottom dwelling fish.

In her quest to create the ultimate urban oyster reef she is currenlty conducting experiments with the:
Global Coral Reef Alliance: http://www.biorock.net/
New York New Jersey BayKeeper:http://www.nynjbaykeeper.org/
The River Project :http://www.riverproject.org/
Gaia Institute:http://www.gaiainstituteny.org/