Laboratory for the Future: Closing event with Debra Scacco

The community is invited to celebrate the completion of Laboratory for the Future and join artist Debra Scacco for a guided exhibit walkthrough at 12:30 p.m.

As the first civic-appointed Artist in Residence at the City of Santa Monica’s City Yards, Scacco collaborated with the Resource Recovery and Recycling Division and the Water Division of the Public Works Department from 2023 to 2025. Her work explores the vital yet often unseen systems that sustain urban life — from water and waste infrastructure to the people who maintain them.

Laboratory for the Future showcases two years of artistic research and creative exploration, featuring works inspired by visits to well sites and sanitation stations, sculptures made from Santa Monica water well excavation clay and Pacific Ocean driftwood, and GIS-based visualizations of the city’s water pathways. The exhibition also delves into compost and waste stream research, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of art, science, and civic engagement.

Laboratory for the Future is a project of City Yards Artist in Residence Debra Scacco, made possible by the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, the Percent for Art Program, and the City of Santa Monica Public Works Department.