New Public Hydrant, 2018 / 2022
Series of hydrant attachments

New Public Hydrant is a series of prosthetic devices that attach to fire hydrants in order to democratize access to water in New York City. These hydrant “hacks” propose a new relationship to public utilities and infrastructure in the city. The prototypes include bottle-fill stations, a multi-species drinking fountain, and a cooling sprinkler playground.

The “Water Is… Workshop” organized with the Youth Design Center in Brownsville, Brooklyn is a design jam that engaged with youth to design with water and infrastructure as a collective resource in the neighborhood. For the exhibition, playful concept designs from the workshop were translated and developed as full scale prototypes including a solar hot water station and a sprinkler boombox.

Current series of life size prototypes:
Sprinkler Boombox, 2022
concept design by Chimere Francis

Solar Tea Station, 2022
concept design Isaac Scotland

Hydrant on Tap, 2018
Tei Carpenter and Chris Woebken

Hydrant for All, 2018/2022
Tei Carpenter and Chris Woebken

Model: Honorarium for participants and credits as concept co-creators. Design development was commissioned and financed by MoMA and work was later collected by MoMA. Part of the sale proceeds were donated to Youth Design Center. 

Workshop facilitators: Tei Carpenter, Emmanuel Oni and Chris Woebken

Public experts: Gerard Allison, Tymale Cuffie, Chimere Francis, Fatima Hassan, Destiny Jacobs, Jewel Johnson, Chimere Kinard, Aadithyan Mannarmannan, Tatiana Minto, Esteban Pacheco, Beyonce Reid,  Isaac Scotland

With Support from: Brittany Bellinger, Ivi Lewis, Quardean Lewis-Allen

Project Team: Tei Carpenter, Chris Woebken, Arianna Deane, Ashley Kuo, Zeynep Ugur, Tanya Maneeintr

Thank you to curators Evangelos Kotsioris, Paula Vilaplana de Miguel and Martino Stierli for including us in such great company and for the support.

Thanks to Fabien Caperan and A Good Plumber for the help and care in fabricating the works and hydrants on view at MoMA.