Having grappled with sea level rise and climate change since being a middle schooler in the Miami-Dade Public School system, these issues have influenced Strauss' trajectory in arts and architecture to find tools to respond.

What is Changing is a collection of direct experiences had by South Florida locals. Interviews record stories of what people see is changing due to sea level rise and global climate shifts.

Speculative Offshore Futures installation Cast plaster cruise ship models, land forms, pulleys, tide chart, laser level, fluorescent blue lights Hybrid island clusters of cruise ships and land forms suggest a spatial remix of existing components of our city system. In this imaginary hopeful solution, the scale of cruise ships in relation to the islands they visit are an asset. The floating ships support fragments and land structures to keep cultures intact even as they are faced with relocation due to sea level rise. A horizon light circumnavigates the space. The network of lines, pulleys and islands shift with the tides.

Strange New Norms give evidence to the unpredictability of sea level rise effects in South Florida. Filmed in public spaces with random public encounters, these document people’s reaction to high water and foreshadow the future of cities faced with increasing sea level rise. Adaptation as a survival strategy varies from shock to obliviousness, from disturbance to acceptance of new normative situations. Water rises with a steady creep that is simultaneously disturbing and soothing.

founded by Lisa Bulawsky and Laurencia Strauss, working at the intersection of individual experience and the public sphere, negotiating cultural tensions through socially engaged participatory art practices.