Emily Comeau

Coming soon to a vacant lot near you!

Once sporting urban establishments, now empty and unused, Dead Zones are part of city sight seeing… but they don’t have to be.
This summer, Emily Cook and I are planning to turn just such an empty lot in Ottawa into a living and growing art installation.

This project is called Transplant and it is envisioned to be a structure made entirely out of living materials. The installation is encouraged to under go the natural changes resulting from its location and the public is encouraged to interact with the site. Over the month of August we are going to construct a tunnel book out of plants and paper, as the elements erode the paper structure, the plants will flourish leaving in it’s place a late summer community garden.

This immense and interactive tunnel book made from local plant materials will revouvenate a barren patch of city and bring temporary functionality to an otherwise dead zone. Sound familiar? You may have even heard about it through the Awesome Ottawa Foundation, who has generously agreed to fund it.

We can’t do it alone! We need you help! Do you have a Dead Zone near you? Tell us where and your area could be a part of this innovative project! Ottawa, be our eyes and ears.

The ideal location site for this installation is an unused plot of land, with dirt not concrete or gravel, in the city where construction has left it empty and no plans for development have been advertised. Site should be exposed to plenty of sun and be located in an area with some pedestrian traffic.

Below is an example of one such plot of land in Montreal.

Do you know of a place like this? Do you have a better idea of where you would like to see this project? Tell us about it!

Contact: emily.comeau@gmail.com