Laboratory for the Future: Flow and Form; the invisible systems of Santa Monica

Arts/Crafts Discussion/Q&A Sustainable and Connected Arts, Culture & Fun The Arts
Saturday, Oct 25, 2025
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Propeller Gallery
3026 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90405
More info and RSVP

Join artist Debra Scacco for a guided walkthrough of Laboratory for the Future, the culminating exhibit of her tenure as artist in residence at City Yards with the city's Public Works divisions of Water and Resource Recovery & Recycling. Laboratory for the Future takes its name from her multiyear project which researched, illuminated, and celebrated the often-unseen labor that sustains Santa Monica and the natural and created systems of the city and region. Learn more about her two years of research and creative exploration, including visits to well sites and sanitation stations, GIS interpretations of the city’s water pathways, new sculptures made from Santa Monica well excavation clay and Pacific Ocean driftwood, and discoveries Scacco made while researching compost and waste streams. Experience how art, science, and civic engagement intersect in this unique exploration of water, waste and urban ecology.

Interdisciplinary artist Debra Scacco investigates the ecological and cultural consequences of human activity. Fusing rigorous research with personal narrative, her work maps the histories of land, water, and the beings transformed by human intervention. She is the inaugural artist-in-residence at the city of Santa Monica Public Works (2023–25) and the first artist-in-residence at the Ellis Island Museum (2012). Scacco co-founded the Getty PST ART Climate Impact Program (2022–25) and founded the climate-focused residency Air Projects (2016–20). Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Los Angeles, and the Durfee Foundation, featured in Art in America and the Los Angeles Times, and exhibited and collected internationally. https://www.debrascacco.com

Laboratory for the Future is a project of City Yards Artist in Residence Debra Scacco, and is made possible by the city of Santa Monica Recreation and Arts Department Cultural Affairs Division, Public Works Department, and the Percent for Art program. More about the project here.

Events:
The Laboratory for the Future exhibit is on view at the Airport Arts Center Propeller Gallery, 3026 Airport Ave, 10/11/25 - 1/4/26. Hours: Thursday - Sunday, 12-5pm.