One hot August afternoon on New York’s Lower East Side, artist Asad Raza led this reporter through his new, unconventional public art show. Without him, you and I certainly would never have noticed it, but then it’s not really for us.

“I’ve made a lot of works for people, trying to create experiences of different kinds that, a lot of the time, dealt with living elements of the environment around them,” said Raza, whose projects have included exhibiting live trees in a museum, rerouting river water through an art venue, and turning trash into fertile soil.