28 Outfalls (2014, digital video, 9:41) is based on video and audio collected from the 28 largest Combined Sewer Outflow (CSO) sites in New York City. At CSOs, excess flow within the sewer system is released, untreated, into natural waterways. The film focuses on the visual and auditory spaces produced by this aspect of New York City’s infrastructure.
28 Outfalls studies these spaces by compressing their aesthetic presence into a form that emphasizes the relationship between the city and natural world. By exploring CSO’s, the film uses details of New York City’s infrastructure to examine the city’s relationship to the surrounding environment.