This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice
Entropy in the natural world is necessary for re-ordering and continuance; a fundamental phase of the biological cycle where material loss transforms the corporeal to the sublime. The project represents a shift in the societal practices surrounding death and its presence, or absence, in the city. The archive facilitates a more humanitarian and environmentally sustainable ritual for remembrance, allowing tangible post-mortem practices to enable the continued ephemeral collective experience of urban life. The prototypical urban waterfront site within Central Park allows for the disruption of sequestration of death in the city, while offering individual choice and agency in death. The systemic practices address both the pragmatic and ephemeral aspects of death by accommodating interminable accumulation and creating spaces for remembrance and reflection, for life, death, and all gradients of grief and joy.