WATERSHED is a large-scale public art project by Anita Glesta that serves as a metaphor and sobering reminder about dwindling marine life on our planet. The projections of fish in flooding water has been featured in different cities around the world and will be projected onto the south façade of the Parrish Art Museum on Saturday, July 25 (rain date Sunday, July 26), from 9-11 pm, as a unique drive-by experience from Montauk Highway.

The fish that swim in WATERSHED are the Pirucuru of South America, a species that were once near extinction in the Amazon and are now returning, and carp. Carp are a paradoxical fish as in some cultures they are food or considered “good luck” and in other places, they are an invasive species. Because this work is now installed in Long Island, native Sea Bass are also incorporated into the video.

WATERSHED originated from a commission by ARTPORT_ making waves for (Re-) Cycles of Paradise, an exhibition commissioned for the COP15 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in 2009. Glesta continued to develop THE WATERSHED Project with a fellowship from the LABA Foundation, and it was installed as part of the New Museum’s Ideas City Festival in Downtown New York (2013); projected onto the façade of the Royal National Theater in London where millions of people were able to see the giant fish on the façade (2015); installed as an immersive video projection commissioned by Al Gore covering the entire floor of the lobby of the Customs House on Ellis Island, New York City (2016); and installed as an 80’ projection on the sidewalk in front of the Brooklyn Public Library to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Super Storm Sandy (2017).