A Right to Be Clean: Sanitation and the Rise of New York City’s Water Towers

30th Street, between 7th and 8th, 2012.

During the morning rush hour in New York City, tourists stand out as being the ones looking up. It’s possible that they see more clearly what most New Yorkers take for granted: water towers. Those archaic looking wooden structures that grace the rooftops of almost every New York City building play an integral, though often overlooked, part of watering this urban center.

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The Water Tank Project

Word Above the Street is staging a large scale public art initiative to draw attention to water as a precious resource by transforming 300 of New York's celebrated rooftop water tanks into works of art.

Artists, musicians and scientists and New York City residents will redefine the skyline across all five New York City boroughs during Summer 2013.

The event aims to reach millions around the world through social networking, and online multimedia tools with a mission to harness the power of art and technology to build a better world, make art that makes a difference and broadcast art to an ever expanding audience.

You can download a snazzy PDF brochure about it.

Water tower tea cosy

Here at BWTAS we're somewhat mystified as to why, perhaps someone will explain, but we came across this neat film of crochet artist Robyn Love with the assistance of the ad agency  TAXI transforming a New York City water tower (one of those Rosenwach wooden ones) with a pencil tea-cosy as some sort of stunt for the Designers & Art Directors Awards in 2008. We love it, whatever it is.