3 Rivers 2nd Nature: Exploring the Role of Artists in Promoting Environmental Recovery in Pittsburgh and Beyond

The 3 Rivers 2nd Nature project aimed to investigate the influence of artists on the recovery of the natural environment in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, home to Pittsburgh and its surroundings. The project ran for 5 years, from 2000 to 2005, and involved artists and scientific experts working with non-profit organizations to increase attention and support for water quality and natural recovery along the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. The project aimed to use artist-led interdisciplinary research and analysis of the concept of natural (green) infrastructure, along with public discourse, to test the impact of artists on real-world aesthetic conditions in post-industrial ecology.

Directed by artists/researchers Tim Collins and Reiko Goto, the 3 Rivers 2nd Nature project aimed to delve into the meaning, form, and function of public space and nature in Allegheny County. The region includes Pittsburgh, once the steel industry capital of the United States. The project’s focus was to conduct research to benefit the public realm and support creative public advocacy and change through accompanying outreach programs. The 3 Rivers 2nd Nature project revisited questions of nature and post-industrial public space that were first addressed in the Nine Mile Run Greenway Project.

3 Rivers 2nd Nature came to a close in 2005 and was a project of the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, a research facility in the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University.

For more, please see the 3r2n Project website.