Her work "combines cross-disciplinary research and social critique to generate ambitious, bold, and innovative ways of conceiving the public domain outside current legal and discursive systems."
One such project Public Smog[3] involves the creation of clean air parks created by retiring emission offsets, paired with an attempt to add the Earth's atmosphere to UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
[5] Her recent works include a public reading, "Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report Summary for Policymakers" (2008), and a series of large-format rubbings of architectural signage of San Francisco-area entities implicated in war-related activities and illegal domestic surveillance, "Sell Us Your Liberty, Or We’ll Subcontract Your Death" (2008).
[9] Amy Balkin's collaborative project A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting (2012–ongoing) manifests through an open call for items from places around the world that may disappear due to climate change.
Ranging from tools and utensils to printed ephemera, Balkin et al.’s archive creates a physical, political, and economic portrait of the effects of rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and desertification through object stories.
This deeply personal index of localized environmental destruction also creates a globalized account of shared experiences and speaks to the income inequality and political exclusion of individuals in places most likely to disappear.