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Newark’s Hidden River

  2 March 2014 ,

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It is ironic that Newark should ignore the very river it was founded on, the Passaic River. It was the pristine wooded river our city’s founding fathers first saw in 1666. It was our city’s artery to the sea and our industries’ source of wealth. It was the throbbing, flowing heart of our city.
After the automobile drove people to the suburbs and globalization exported jobs abroad, the Passaic was no longer a water highway. It is now this industrial town’s polluted heart. The corporate towers of Newark’s “Renaissance” meet industrial history at the riverbank. The murky waters contain secrets of illegal dumping and toxic pollution that will remain buried for eternity, leaking their oils and toxins down stream. The industrial past clings on, refusing to vanish in forgotten waters. The river of change, the Passaic River, is a place of shifting contrasts, where past meets present.
The river flows on.
View this artwork as part of a short film titled Pictures of Newark

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Sunset on the Passaic River
Sunset on the Passaic River
Waiting for demolition at the "Little Annie Drawbridge"
Waiting for demolition at the “Little Annie Drawbridge”
Symmetrical bridges cross the Passic River
Symmetrical bridges cross the Passic River
Old drawbridge at Port Newark
Old drawbridge at Port Newark
The city's industrial past is still reflected in the Passaic River
The city’s industrial past is still reflected in the Passaic River
Dredging toxic industrial runoff buried in the river
Dredging toxic industrial runoff buried in the river
A new park on the Passaic River
A new park on the Passaic River
Forgotten industrial waste on the Passaic River
Forgotten industrial waste on the Passaic River
Port Newark
Port Newark
Industrial zone in the New Jersey Meadowlands
Industrial zone in the New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
Waiting for demolition at the "Little Annie Bridge"
Waiting for demolition at the “Little Annie Bridge”
Industial beachhead at Port Newark
Industial beachhead at Port Newark
Founding fathers
Founding fathers
City in autumn
City in autumn
After hours in Port Newark
After hours in Port Newark
Golden age city at sunset
Golden age city at sunset
Premonition of a city on the Passaic River
Premonition of a city on the Passaic River
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Artwork reflecting on the theme of surreal outer space

  2 March 2014 ,
When I gaze at the night sky, I wonder: “What does that infinite darkness contain?” I imagine a plethora of other worlds. I see worlds where gravity and inertia vanish. It is a world of my own fabrication, superimposed over the pitch black sky. While I cannot visit such a place, I can still put image to paper.

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Chirico

Inspired by the Tower of Babel and the Place Vendôme in Paris

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Sweet dreams
Sweet dreams
Sleepless night
Sleepless night
Mother moon
Mother moon
UFO landing strip
UFO landing strip
Security camera - inspired by Bentham's panopticon
Security camera – inspired by Bentham’s panopticon
Space station
Space station
My little planet
My little planet
Father Ttme
Father Ttme
Foreign land - inspired by Mars
Foreign land – inspired by Mars
Architect's nightmare
Architect’s nightmare
Inspired by the paintings of Chirico
Inspired by the paintings of Chirico
Inspired by M.C. Escher
Inspired by M.C. Escher
Paralax - inspired by the architecture of Eastern State Penitentiary
Paralax – inspired by the architecture of Eastern State Penitentiary
Vanishing point
Vanishing point
Toward infinity
Toward infinity
Inspired by Mondrian
Inspired by Mondrian
Space age church of science
Space age church of science
Gears of time
Gears of time
Chasm
Chasm
Death
Death
Wave
Wave
Detroit
Detroit
Inspired by photos of the Siege of Stalingrad
Inspired by photos of the Siege of Stalingrad
Invasion
Invasion
Geometry
Geometry
Biological warfare
Biological warfare
Piranesi's prison
Piranesi’s prison
Train
Train
Inspired by Hokusai's wave
Inspired by Hokusai’s wave
Space ship
Space ship
Imaginary night sky in New York City
Imaginary night sky in New York City
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Film featuring a few of my art projects

  2 March 2014 , ,

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Visiting China in 2011, I was shocked by the reach of globalization. On the train, I witnessed an endless treadmill of mile after mile of identical crops, villages, and cities. The polluted skies and downcast weather hinted at the consequence of growth. Returning home, I earned greater appreciation for my own artistic creations. They seemed so much more innocent – a naïve refuge from reality.

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Scenes filmed from Levittown, Pennsylvania are paired with the corniest rendition of the Star Spangled Banner I could find.
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Petition against Panasonic Company’s Newark Offices

  2 March 2014 ,
I am saddened when I walk through downtown Newark. The corporate towers of the “Renaissance” Center ignore the very city that gave them millions of dollars in tax breaks. They erect austere metal fences and protect their towers with obedient security guards that threaten pedestrians with arrest. They are scared of Newark.
When Panasonic decided to move their national headquarters to Newark, I hoped they would buck the trend of icy disrespect. However, I saw that their new building turned its back to the city like so many other lifeless behemoths downtown. I wrote the following petition, signed by Newark children during the opening of Riverfront Park.  On 11 June 2012, when the Central Planning Board asked Panasonic to open their grounds for public access, I read my petition in support of the city.
This poster and petition were featured in a June 2017 exhibition about about planning and urban policy at the Yuerba Buena Center for the Arts, entitled Space Brainz. The exhibit was organized by Damon Rich, a MacArthur Fellow and former lead city planner for the City of Newark.

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Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts Exhibit 3-1x9htcc
Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts Exhibit 1-1gnodkx
Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts Exhibit 2-1wgs40q

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Panasonic Poster

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Dear Mr. Taylor,
We are children of Newark, the new home of Panasonic North America.  We would like to start with Oscar Wilde’s story, “The Selfish Giant”:
There was once a “selfish giant” who had a most beautiful but closely guarded garden, where, to his dismay, all the little children were found playing. Scaring the children away angrily, he built around the garden a high wall, with a sign: “Trespassers will be prosecuted.”  Children could no longer go in to play, but dreamed about all the fun behind the wall.  With the children’s absence, the trees never blossomed again, the animals disappeared, and the garden was always barren.  The selfish giant no longer heard the birds or smelled the spring air.  Then, one day, to the giant’s amazement, the garden was in blossom again.  From the window of his fortress, he saw the children had crept through a hole in the wall to play in the garden again.  Finally, the spring had melted his icy heart.  The giant “took an axe to knock down the wall,” and played with the children in the beautiful garden.
When you moved to Newark, we were hoping to have a socially responsible new neighbor.  We expected your home to be different from the corporate winter gardens we have often seen here.
As your glassy home steadily rose, we were mistaken.  Surrounding the building, a tall metal fence with spearheaded points rejects the surrounding world and separates the lonely giant from the city.  Strategically located at the gateway to our city’s newly energized waterfront, the Panasonic winter garden, however, tells a story of the giant in the fortress, his feebleness, his fear, and, most of all, his old urban biases.   We, the children, who were born and grow up in the surrounding neighborhoods, ask you, the giant, to “take an axe and knock down the wall,” and to open your garden to Newark and its people.  As a neighbor, this is the least you can and should do.
Sincerely,
The Children of Newark
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Save Our Water: public speech in Newark

  2 March 2014 ,
Newark City Hall

Newark City Hall

On September 11, 2011, the Newark City Council was on the verge of passing landmark legislation: The Save Our Water Ordinance. This ordinance would guard the city’s public watershed from corporate privatization. I spoke before the city council in favor of the proposed legislation.

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MUA’s do not work: to see, look no farther than Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg. In 1992, the cash-strapped city sold its garbage incinerator for 42 million to The Harrisburg Authority, their MUA. The incinerator, already plagued with problems, only further deteriorated under private hands.
In 2003, only 11 years later, the federal government closed the incinerator because it spewed dioxin, science’s most dangerous substance. Instead of permanently closing the incinerator, as the city would have done, The Harrisburg Authority borrowed one hundred and twenty million dollars to rebuild and expand the incinerator. THA’s “solution” was riddled with shady, mismanaged deals. So it was no surprise when it could not repay the loan. Yet, since the loan was city guaranteed, Harrisburg was stuck paying for THA’s failure.
Everything went downhill from there. The city was swamped with 120 million in new debt, 108 million in old debt, 30 million in lawyer’s fees, a dioxin-spewing incinerator and its toxic landfill, and the highest garbage disposal rates in the nation—288 dollars per year per family. Altogether, the city owed more than 300 million, more debt than any American city. If equally distributed among the city’s 49,000 residents, each person would be stuck with 6,200 dollars of debt.
The result?  The city went bankrupt and was taken over by the state. The hijacked city is now selling its parking, water, sewer, and perhaps a park. But this only covers a fraction of the debt; the city will have to also cut back on basic services. Harrisburg is stuck in debtor’s prison for life.  But don’t worry, Newark could very well become Harrisburg’s cellmate for life.
When an MUA controls Newark’s water, it can easily hold the city hostage. There is nothing, at all, to stop it from raising our water rates when we refuse to guarantee its debt. The money that the MUA offers us is bait. One nibble and our beloved city is buried in a mountain of debt.
This city will follow Seattle, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Atlanta, Buffalo, Puerto Rico, Guam, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, Gary, Hoboken, Jersey City, and Harrisburg if this council passes the despicable MUA. A scepter is haunting Newark, it is the scepter is of privatization. You must prevent Newark from receiving the MUA’s lethal dose. Pass the SAVE OUR WATER ordinance today!
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Save Our Water: public speech in Trenton

  2 March 2014 ,

David and Goliath

Water is a fundamental human right that private corporations cannot monopolize. For several years, my beloved Newark has been trying to privatize its public water system. On July 14, 2010, Newark’s attempt at water privatization needed approval from the Department of Community Affairs in Trenton. I went there and voiced my objections before the state committee:

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I, Myles Zhang, born and raised in Newark, care passionately about my city’s past, present, and future. I find it the duty of the Department of Community Affairs to seriously question the plan’s merits, timing, and intended purpose.
On December 12, 1888, Newark’s Mayor Joseph Haynes said, “I want to say emphatically and positively that speculators have no power at all to touch a drop of that water in spite of their boasts […] It lies there awaiting the cities, and when Newark wants, Newark can go and take it.” Four years later, in 1892, mayor Haynes and the city concluded their 30-year effort to establish a publicly operated watershed. In the process, they had to overcome catastrophic public health issues, great financial sacrifices, and coordinated legislative battles. Contrary to this history, the current city plan of privatizing the watershed has only been prepared in extreme hast and secrecy. The citizens of the city and state have not been debriefed on a single convincing feasibility study.
For decades, as well as for the past four years, the City of Newark has been operated in a most wasteful fashion. For instance, according to city budgets in current years, the City Council’s and Mayoral Offices operating funds are three to four times higher than compatible Jersey City, which itself is not known for financial frugality. Meanwhile, the weak city government has caused a deep financial crisis with shrinking revenues. Further borrowing through an MUA without careful study about how to spend it will only lead to a devastating loss to the city and its struggling citizens. The decisions that you make today will effect my generation and others to come.