By Roderick Coover
Estuary/Toxi∙City is the work of director and artist Roderick Coover. Estuary, a large-format book, and Toxi∙City, a digital video installation, take on the past, present, and future of waterways like the Delaware and Thames rivers.
Concepts behind Estuary/Toxi•City
Roderick Coover discusses the ideas behind his work Estuary/Toxi•City.
The estuaries of both rivers provided rich fodder for a sensory experience of the impact of climate change and chemical pollutants on our waters and landscapes. How do we construct and understand our changing landscapes? How do we adjust to the future of our landscapes, and how do we modify them?
Credits
Estuary, 2013
Artist book by Roderick Coover, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Database research assistant: Conor Hafertepe
Field-research assistants: Julisa Basak, Chad Bevins, Conor Hafertepe, Paul Hinson, Bruce Byker James, Max Marin, Nate Quinn, Nicole Rothschild, and Chad Sims
Toxi•City, 2013
Director/artist: Roderick Coover
Script: Scott Rettberg
Sound technician: Joseph Kraemer
Cast: Aram Aghazarian, Don Anstock, Kamili Feelings, Alice Gatling, Cynthia Geonnotti, Steve Geonnotti, Saskia Hargrove, Chris Monaco, and Chris Whelan
Landscapes from Maps and Memories
Roderick Coover discusses how he incorporates current and outdated maps and memories of places into his panoramic pieces.
Roderick Coover’s work spans films, interactive cinema, installations, webworks, and published papers. Coover uses experimental documentary methods and new digital media to uncover the places where social sciences, humanities, technology, and memory intersect. In an interview with our staff Coover reflected on the creation of Estuary/Toxi•City, on how we construct and modify the landscapes of our memory, and on his own work process. Learn more about Coover at roderickcoover.com.
View all clips from our interview with Roderick Coover.
How can you travel to places you can’t physically go or to times you can’t physically go to, and pull those stories and make them your own?