Just 800 yards off the southern tip of Manhattan, the Island remains a mystery for most New Yorkers. First called "Pagganck" (Nut Island) by the Lenape Indians, then "Noten Eylant" by early Dutch settlers, it became "Governors Island" under British rule, for the "benefit and accommodation of His Majesty's Governors."

After the Revolutionary War, the new American government built Fort Jay and Castle Williams, which were later used as prisons for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. In the last hundred years, the Island has been an Army post, a Coast Guard base, and a small-town-America that 3,500 people called home, complete with a hospital, movie theater, schools, Motel 6, and Burger King, just minutes from the big city. The Coast Guard left the Island in 1996, and most of the land was handed over to New York City and State in 2003.

How the Island will evolve is an open question. Its future will be affected by currents and tides cultural, political, and economic. This unique point in time prompts the artwork in Set and Drift, which invites you to discover Governors Island's past while imagining its future.