Rosa Nussbaum
Rosa Nussbaum proposed to spend her residency creating a “trash version” of George Washington’s 1776 Delaware River Crossing. She began by building a fleet of cavalry made from helmets, gloves, and plastic horses sourced from the waste piles. She built George Washington’s head with foam, made big googly eyes with soft balls, and used piano keys for teeth. Nussbaum intended to use an 18th century lapstrake technique to build the boat, but while searching for wood in the waste piles she realized that “almost nothing is actually made of wood,” finding soggy fiberboard and chipboard instead. Over the course of her residency Nussbaum became disillusioned by her project’s emphasis on American mythology, but she did test-launch her trash-fleet in a giant puddle beside a waste-mountain in the tipping yard.
