Joined an Avalanche, Never to be Alone Again is a temporary three-part installation by artist Carlos Irijalba, developed in the context of the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The work examines how human activity has accelerated the global environmental crisis, collapsing vastly different time scales—projecting an imminent future while bringing to light centuries of geologicOff-siteal cycles.
Drawing on materials sourced from the city’s own infrastructure, Irijalba creates a sculptural ensemble that connects natural processes with the built environment. The installation unfolds across three main elements:
The Wave (2023) is a low-tide wave at 1:1 scale (approximately 30 by 7 feet), constructed entirely from 100% recycled asphalt. Positioned along the edge of the East River, its form evokes both a natural phenomenon and a petrified flow, akin to a frozen spill of lava, suggesting the continuous transformation of urban landscapes and their materials.
The Fence (2023) repurposes approximately 70 feet of fencing from the FDR Drive. Intervened with imagery of aquatic and terrestrial animals, the piece points to interspecies coexistence within an urban coastal habitat, where natural and constructed systems intersect. The presence of animals such as seahorses and beavers highlights the capacity of different life forms to adapt to environments shaped by human intervention.
Pannotia (2023), the third component, is a large-scale sculpture (spanning approximately 45 feet) based on geotechnical core samples. These drillings, routinely extracted as part of urban planning processes, reveal the composition of the ground and inform decisions such as building height limitations. By enlarging these cores into a visible, spatial form, Irijalba exposes the stratified complexity of the subsoil, presenting it as a dynamic system in constant transformation.
The installation was developed during Irijalba’s residency with the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) as part of the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program. Over the course of a year, the artist engaged closely with the systems, materials, and operational logic that sustain the city.
Taken together, the three works make visible the relationship between infrastructure, ecology, and deep time, while directly engaging with the ESCR project—a large-scale intervention designed to protect the city from flooding and extreme weather events. The installation offers both a critical and poetic reflection on urban resilience, extending its perspective across decades and even centuries into the future.