In honor of Earth Day, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and The NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) are presenting a short film about the installation of Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again, a work of public art by The Cooper Union School of Art adjunct instructor Carlos Irijalba. The work was created during Irijalba's artist residency with the DDC as a part of the DCLA’s Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program that embeds artists in city government to propose and implement creative solutions to pressing civic challenges. 

Irijalba, who teaches Sculpture: Open Studio annually, created Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again in connection with The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, the large-scale coastal protection initiative underway along Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Temporarily installed in the construction site near Corlears Hook Park Ferry Terminal, the artwork examined how technological developments have accelerated a global environmental crisis while at the same time deepening human knowledge of the earth. Harvesting materials from the city’s infrastructure, Irijalba's three-part installation includes Pannotia (2023), a geotechnical core sample sculpture; The Wave (2023), a low-tide wave made of 100% recycled asphalt; and The Fence (2023), salvaged fencing from the FDR Drive. 

The film, available on the DLCA's YouTube, invites viewers to consider how cities can adapt and evolve in the face of environmental challenges and how artists can help shape that conversation.