HighWaterLine

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!

Can you spare five minutes for the environment?

One of my favorite things that has been written about the project was written by Andy Goodman, of “good ideas for good causes.” He talks about the people on the street pleading for you to stop and give some time (and money) regarding any number of good causes, and then says “In one of America’s busiest cities, Mosher isn’t stopping people to talk about global warming. They’re stopping her.”

I put that to the test in Lower Manhattan this weekend.

I had myself sort of psyched up for the chalking from Brooklyn Bridge to Chambers street,where I would pass by South Street Seaport, Wall Street, through Battery Park and then past the World Trade Center site. I had in my mind that it would be a really different weekend, it would be the first really business heavy area, the first big tourist area, the WTC site, and the area with the highest security. All of that certainly made for an exciting weekend, but there is more. Let me tell you about it…

Friday I biked from home to the Canary Project studio, arriving at about 9:15am. I was met by a cameraman and sound guy from TF1, French news television. They were to follow me around for the day. They shot some stuff of me checking out the maps and loading up the trike (chalker, 50 pound bucket of chalk, misc locks, camera, my bag) and took some shots of Ed and I heading out. We rode to the gas station so that I could put some air in the chalker’s tires (it’s called the heavy hitter and it’s tires deflate bi-weekly). Then on the road again.

A little ways on the TF1 guys stopped me because they wanted to try a different shot. The cameraman wanted to ride on the front of the trike and film me while I pedaled along. I’m sorry, you want to do what? He wanted to sit on the heavy hitter and face me (with an enormous camera) and ride along. I, um, well I don’t know. He protested that he didn’t weigh much and it wouldn’t be for long, could we just try it out? Keep in mind that I am already pedaling about 100 pounds of weight on the trike, which is a single speed (no gears) with cruiser brakes (pedal brakes) and some super bouncy shocks (I feel everything).

Reluctantly I agreed - concerned more for his safety than for my ability to pedal it - so on he popped and off we went. Turns out the ol’ trike can make the weight not feel so bad. It was a little awkward to have to look around the huge camera in front of me, but all in all a pretty fun experience. At the end of the block the cameraman jumped off and off Ed and I went for the Brooklyn Bridge.

It can be a pretty slow slog up the long ramp on the bridge (although Ed said I “booked it” but I think that is a relative term - “booked it” compared to expectations not other bike speeds). The first couple of times that I rode over the bridge, I had to walk part of the way. Now I can make the whole ride up - not that it is easy or fast by any means. I get quite a lot of looks along the way as I pedal the trike across the bridge. Most in sheer wonderment - I don’t know if the looks are for the tricycle or for the chalker on the front (might be both). The bikers on the bridge are an interesting story too - I get about half that are totally wowed by the trike and think it is a hell of a thing, and about half who seem more annoyed than anything (I am after all like an SUV in the bike lane).

Ed and I met the TF1 guys at the Manhattan side archway on the bridge. First we did a shot of me riding down past the cameraman, then I had to ride back up again and down one more time since the sound guy was in the first shot. They were apologetic about making me ride uphill again, but at least it wasn’t a steep part, and I explained it wasn’t a big deal since I did this ride pretty frequently lately.

Then the cameraman again requested to ride on the front. I knew it would change the braking dynamics, but was willing to give it a try. Up again, perched on the chalker and off we went for the long downhill ride. Wasn’t too bad except for the crowds of tourists (which can make unexpected swerves and movements on the bridge) the swing of the heavy camera when he panned (the front of the bike can be squirelly) and the soreness in my leg from holding the brakes on…We looked a little like a super budget film crew or something.

At the base of the bridge the cameraman hopped off and we went on our ways (I have to take sometimes a much more circuitous route) to meet up again at Water Street and the south side of the Brooklyn Bridge. There we were also joined by Jose, who is doing some documenting of the project, and we had Megan from Canary Project, who met us on the bridge when Ed had to leave. I unloaded everything and locked up the trike, filled the hopper of the chalker with the 50 pounds of chalk, walked over to the bridge wall and started putting down the line.

It was pretty quiet on the north end of South Street Seaport, was able to just go along quietly chalking on the cobblestones. At the plaza where Fulton, Pearl and Water come together we started to see a lot more crowds - mixed bag of tourists and business people. And a traffic cop that I skirted around on my way across the busy plaza.

I wound my way through the forest of skyscrapers, marking chalk lines past construction sites and lines of hungry business people waiting in line for their lunch. While I got a few curious glances, most people were rushing to or from their lunch break. A few security guards gave some harsh words - not to me but to the people documenting - warnings about photographing the buildings. About halfway through and still no people interested in talking about what I am doing (what a contrast from the Brooklyn neighborhoods!)

The TF1 guys found someone who was asking about the project and corralled him over to talk to me about it. A block later and a young woman asked “What are you doing?” I came over to tell her about it, but when the cameras got close she shied away saying “I don’t want to be on camera I was just being nosy!” But she let them film as I explained the project and handed her and her workmate some Action Packets.

I talked to a number of the street vendors, they had more time to spend talking and asking questions. Most of them were from outside the area - one from Jersey, a couple from Queens - and they were interested in the larger impact of climate change and talked about their own experiences with flooding and storms and the changes they had notice climatically in their own areas. We finished the day chalking right up to the edge of Battery Park, where I would continue (on the other side of the construction) on Saturday.

More images of the bike ride coming soon from Canary Project…

Learning and growing

I had a couple of really informative meetings last week with the Regional Park Managers for big swathes of land in South Brooklyn. Talking with and even learning about the existence of the Regional Managers helps to comprehend the incredible intricacies involved in the running of our huge crazy city. One of these managers handles all of the beaches in Coney Island. I hadn’t even thought about those as parks! They both handle all of the city parks and playgrounds in their region as well as greenways and the greenstreets, trust me these guys have a lot on which they are working.

I also am gearing up for the launch - this Thursday! The mayors are in town today for the opening of the C40, and as they wrap up on Thursday, I will be starting out. I don’t currently have anyone joining me, but I hope that changes over the week.

I also am looking for a space in which to store and mix the chalk and pigments, if anyone has a loading dock and a little space they don’t mind getting dirty, let me know - I moved 3,000 pounds of chalk into my storage space for the time being.

I will start out in Spring Creek on Thursday morning, so let me know if you are interested in joining me!

Coney Island image courtesy of Trevor Little, Eastern Parkway image courtesy of Brownstoner.com.

Welcome to OUR world…

I was going to say “welcome to my world” since my whole world is really consumed with this project right now, but I realized that really the HighWaterLine project is about OUR world.

I first conceived of this project in August of 2006. Over the course of the next 8 months (up to now) I have done extensive research, writing, outreach and MEETINGS! I have learned so much about the science of climate change, the politics of environmentalism, and all the details regarding public art projects in New York City. It has been a fascinating and exciting journey so far. (I have blogged more about it at my artsite: mudandsticks.blogspot.com).

Even more exciting though is the prospect of actually launching the project, which is going to happen on May 17th (the last day of the C40 - Large Cities Climate Change Summit in NYC). I am sending information on the project to all of the mayors participating in the Summit - maybe I can get someone to come out and walk with me.

I am really looking forward to getting out onto the street and talking to people. I want to hear their stories about their own experiences about climate change, their thoughts on the future and things they want to do. In fact, we could start the stories right here. I would love for people to start a conversation right here on the website talking about unique ways to to approach climate change - both how to get the word out and what we as a community of people can do…

Stick with me, lets see where this thing goes!