HighWaterLine

Contemplating climate change

Sunday was another beautiful day in NYC. The sun was shining brightly in the crisp cool air. I always think things look sharper and more in focus in the crisp fall and winter air. I am one of those weird people who loves cool and cold weather. So I was pretty happy to be out chalking even if it started at about 9:30 on a Sunday morning. (I think my future projects will happen only on weekdays).

I started the day finishing up the line through the streets of Gowanus. I was accompanied again by my friend Margo, who biked from Washington Heights to Gowanus. Quite a ride, but on such a gorgeous day she said it was fabulous (I believe her!) We were headed to Red Hook soccer fields for installation of beacons AND some great food! We finished the chalking, noting all of the scrap metal and industrial sites along the Gowanus Canal that lay below the line. This means that a storm would sweep all of these toxins farther inland, as well as washing them back out to sea when the water recedes. Of course the toxins are also leaching into the groundwater and through that process washing into the Gowanus already.

We met up with Peter at the soccer fields and treated ourselves to some Salvadorean pupusas before starting the install. Hose also came out to shoot some more for me.

This was the most fascinating installation yet! For those who are not familiar with the Red Hook soccer fields, it is a soccer field that is used from dawn to dusk on the weekends from May to October. It is always packed - soccer teams, their entire families, lots of kids, the food vendors, loads of people visiting for the food and a lot of other people just out to enjoy the day. So the installation was intertwined with many other goings on.

As I started the installation, I was swamped by a bunch of kids who were fascinated by what I was doing. They all wanted to help and were fighting over trying to help me install everything. They then took ownership of the project, telling people not to touch them and keeping the beacons well guarded. I had one young man who helped me install everything, carry water to fill them and put on the caps. This was a great installation - I talked to so many people of all ages and from all areas of Brooklyn, what a great place to meet many people.

Unfortunately I ended up a little short handed in the afternoon and needed to do some more chalking. So I uninstalled the beacons later in the day (but before nightfall) in order to do more chalking. I still wanted to have the beacons up after dark, so I returned to install a small grouping of them. A group of the girls who were watching the daytime installation were still there and they loved the beacons at night. They were looking at all of the beacons with the lights in them and told me they looked beautiful. At the end of the evening, they were huddled around one of the beacons, lost in contemplation. So from a hectic day came a peaceful and contemplative evening.

Thanks to all the kids out at the ball fields for their energy, fascination and interest in learning about art and climate change!

Apologies for the delay in posting this I was trying to get all of the images uploaded and edited.

From cobbled back streets and scrap metal yards, to quiet back streets and flower strewn homes

Yesterday (9/15) and today were quite a whirlwind. If you remember, I said on Thursday that I was pretty knackered, well the business continues and I am really kooky tired this evening which means I may ramble worse in this post than I did at the Conflux Festival Panel.

I started Friday morning with a flat tire on my bike, but did make it out to 58th Street in Sunset Park industrial area to draw the chalk line in front of semi trucks, down cobbled streets and past abandoned industrial sites. I really enjoyed walking around the industrial area - with the tall hulking buildings, the sound of the machinery echoing from inside. There is even a building that is creating some sticky sweet smelling product. Friday evening I attended the preview of Susannah Sayler’s striking photographs of our environment in transition. She photographs the effects of climate change as well as the solutions. I am a big fan of adding the solutions into the project. Her images are the catalyst for the Canary Project.

This morning was an early start. I had to finish getting the images together for the panel and get out to do some chalking before heading to the Festival. I drew the line around the Gowanus Canal and had the sheer joy of walking around the area bounded by Sackett, Union, Bond and Nevins. The area has still an old charm to it sprinkled with beautiful old buildings that seem to have been carefully cared for. The Canal itself is certainly still smelly and dirty looking (there’s still a lot of industry around it) but there is a lot of wildlife thriving there as well.

The line cuts through a lot of industrial and quite toxic areas - including a massive scrap yard. It also cuts right through the Whole Foods site (also a toxic clean up site), so I hope they are considering flood planning, especially if they really are going to put in a huge amount of parking spaces instead of a porous green space with lots of bike parking. (Is my bias showing?)

In the early afternoon I biked (in quite strong wind) over to the Conflux Festival to join a panel put together by Eyebeam regarding their Eco-visualization Challenge. I was really honored to be asked to be a part of the panel and had put together some great things to talk about in relation to the challenge and public intervention projects: simple graphic statement, soundbite scientific information, action oriented, the power of community building etc. etc. I was pretty tired and spoke after Amanda McDonald Crowley, Tiffany Holmes, Michael Mandiberg and Brooke Singer, all who do amazing things and had really great presentations, so my talk was a little distracted and rambling. I promise to have myself better put together for the Conference on Social Theory Politics and the Arts (I do much better with Q&A!), it is October 11-13.

So now I am back home blogging about it all and hopefully resting up for a great day in Red Hook tomorrow - if you can, come out and have a taco and a walk around!

I also should mention that I have been speaking with my friend Nathan about the closing party (he’s hosting it at the Old American Can Factory) and he has had some great ideas to make it more of an event - so definitely put the date on your calendar: October 7!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Yesterday I did another very long line out on the shore parkway. This time I was on the more pristine north side of the Verazzano Bridge, heading up to Owl’s Head point (a pier, park and sewage treatment plant). It was a crisp brightly sunny day with a nice breeze blowing off the water. As I was chalking along, a mother and daughter rode up to me on their bikes, the mother asked what I was doing and I explained the project. Then she asked how long the line was going to be there and I told her that it would only be a day or two depending on the weather. “Oh,” she said, sounding relieved, “because it’s ugly.” I have to admit I was quite taken aback. I had yet to hear this kind of comment on the project, I was also very tired.* Usually I would respond very nicely and say that I was sorry that she felt that way and that it is indeed very temporary, but it is an important way to get people thinking about climate change. Instead I blurted out (while laughing) “You think the line is ugly, you should see the devastation that climate change will bring!” The mother looked at me sweetly and said something along the lines of understanding climate change but she was still glad it would be gone soon. Hmmmm.

I did have a number of other great conversations. One gentleman was able to share with me his first hand experience of the devastation wrought by the tornado that touched down in his neighborhood of Bay Ridge. I had two different guys who said that they just couldn’t stand it any longer they were so curious they just had to know what was going on on - YAY! I also made friends with a lovely woman named Eileen who was interested in the project and even took the time to read through the packet (I hope she went home and told some friends and neighbors about it). Another interesting comment was “We don’t get much of this kind of thing around here.” “What kind of thing?” I asked. “Art.” Oh.

In the evening I went to a lovely opening at Nelson Hancock Gallery in Dumbo. He put together a group photo show called Topos : Brooklyn. It featured: Tim Connor, Rebekah Farley, Michael Iacovoni, Michael Itkoff, Michael Piazza, Michael Simon, and Torrance York. Michael Iacovone had a piece which investigate the “edge of Brooklyn” in which he photographed the border of Brooklyn. He and I had a great time talking about all of the odd things along the coast (since we have seen some of the same neighborhoods - some which few people who don’t live there ever see). The show was a really interesting group of people interested in looking at Brooklyn and investigating it to find the pieces or parts that appealed to them. It will be open until mid-October, so make sure you stop by to check it out. I am showing a long strip (3″x170″) of images and will add images as the project continues to progress. A huge thanks to all of my photographers, Ed Morris, Susannah Sayler, Megan Baker and Curtis Hamilton (all from Canary Project) and of course Hose Cedeno.
*I’m tired since I forgot that the opening was this week (in my head it was next week) so I spent the week leaping hurdles to get the long print made for the opening. Which I absolutely would not have been able to do without the unbelievable assistance of Taylor, and of course the infamous Ed. Plus I am ultra tired now, I will add in links later!