paraSITE, Michael Rakowitz, 1998-ongoing
Plastic bags, polyethylene tubing, hooks, tape
Different urban sites in New York City, Boston and Cambridge MA, and Baltimore MD Exhibited at MoMA (2005), MassMOCA (2004), and elsewhere
Custom built inflatable shelters designed for homeless people that attach to the exterior outtake vents of a building’s Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. The warm air leaving the building simultaneously inflates and heats the double membrane structure. Built and distributed to over 30 homeless people in Boston and Cambridge, MA and New York City.
Joe H. using his paraSITE shelter in February 2000. Joe is a homeless man who lived on the streets near Battery Park City in Manhattan. In the 1970s, he became a contractor and was responsible for building over fifteen buildings in Brooklyn. He was diagnosed with cancer in the 1980s after being exposed to Agent Orange while serving in the Air Force in Vietnam. After forty-seven different operations to treat the cancer, the Veteran’s Association of America ceased paying his medical bills and he went bankrupt.
Michael M. using his paraSITE shelter on 26th Street and 9th Avenue in New York. Michael was a homeless man who worked for the United Homeless Organization. He wanted to respond to an obscure anti-tent by-law being enforced by the Giuliani administration, which stated that any structure 3.5 feet or taller set up on city property would be considered an illegal encampment.