The Developer's Midnight Fantasy a imagined clear cutting of a forest.

Hi Digger, 2021, on birch plywood, 6 x 8 ft

The Developer’s Midnight Fantasy [DMF] is a collaborative community event that invites visitors to consider the fragility of the forest through an imagined clear cutting of the Ashley Schiff Preserve. The setting of The Developer’s Midnight Fantasy is in the 26 acre Ashley Schiff Preserve at Stony Brook University. DMF will position life-sized paintings of heavy-duty construction machinery in & around the forest next to the native trees & flora with original music composed by Tommy Wu and Daniel Cohen performed by live musicans' and live dancers choreographed by Amy Yopp Sullivan, poetry by Michelle Whittaker, costumes designed by Marta Baumiller and neuroscience by Arianna Maffei.

The project will visualize how nature can be transformed overnight into yet another development or carpark. With green open spaces being safer than urban environments Covid has made us recognize the importance of forests.

Ashley Schiff Preserve has no official protection. Its “Forever Wild” designation is in name only.

Legislation to designate the preserve a state park, has not yet been passed.