They say that one person’s trash is another’s floating artwork. The latest project by Brooklyn-based artist Swoon, Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, is one-part portraits made of urban flotsam and jetsam on view at Deitch Studios, one-part fleet of seven boats constructed from reclaimed materials and powered by alternative energy. Now docked on the East River in Long Island City, Queens, the boats took a three-week voyage down the Hudson, stopping here and there along the way for performances.

Notorious for the signature wheatpaste and paper illustrations that adorn city walls from the Lower East Side to Berlin, Swoon and her team of 75 collaborators brought the work indoors, presenting a rare opportunity to see this street artist’s vision on a grand scale. Last week, as part of the installation program, Deitch hosted a conversation between Swoon, Ann Messner (artist and former mentor of Swoon at Pratt) and seminal feminist artist Kiki Smith. Moderated by Paper Magazine senior editor Carlo McCormick, the conversation provided a forum for intergenerational discussion by female artists on the state of public art and the dynamics of artistic collaborations, drawing parallels between the work of Swoon and Smith.

Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea continues at Dietch Studios (4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City, New York) through October 19. Hurry!

Photo via SuperTouch.