Julia Oldham, “Beaver Village” (2019) (courtesy of the Queens Museum)
Starting this Friday, September 20, New York City will be abuzz with hundreds of events and activities that focus on the climate crises. Activities will commence on the Global Climate Strike on Friday and continue through the week of the United Nations 2019 Climate Action Summit on September 23.
Climate Week NYC, a city-wide project featuring more than 150 events across the city, will launch on the day of the UN Climate Summit and run through September 29. Here are some of the art-related events happening in New York City now and in the week to come.
Who Takes Care of New York? A community partnership exhibition at the Queens Museum
Through maps, art, and storytelling, the exhibition Who Takes Care of New York? explores the variety of civic groups that exist in New York City and the ways in which they support their local environments. The exhibition is organized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service’s New York City Urban Field Station, and Pratt Institute’s Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative, and curated by Christina Freeman. Featured artists include Magali Duzant, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, and two NYC Urban Field Station Artists-in-Residence, Matthew Jensen and Julia Oldham.
When: September 12-29, 2019. 11am-5pm
Where: Queens Museum, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York, 11368
Pollution Pods at the UN Headquarters
Starting Saturday, guests and sightseers at the UN headquarters in New York will be invited into five large interconnected geodesic domes created by artist Michael Pinsky. The installation, titled Polluted Pots, uses artificial atmospheres to simulate dangerously polluted air quality in cities around the world. Visitors will not be exposed to any harm. The work is brought by the British nonprofit group Cape Farewell in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). It was organized as part of the UN’s Clean Air Initiative, which calls on governments to commit to safe air quality and abide to air pollution policies by 2030.
When: September 21–24, 2019
Where: United Nations Headquarters, 405 East 42nd Street, New York
New York Botanical Garden’s Edible Academy (photo by Robert Benson Photography, courtesy of New York Botanical Garden)
Climate Week at the New York Botanical Garden
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) will offer free admission to all its visitors today, September 20, the day of the Global Climate Strike. Visitors can use this opportunity to catch the final week of NYBG’s largest-ever exhibition, Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx. The exhibition celebrates the influential Brazilian modernist artist, landscape architect, plant explorer, and conservationist Roberto Burle Marx (1909–94). In the week to follow, the garden will host a number of events, including performances by artists, dancers, and musicians. Visitors can also join a tour at NYBG’s three-acre Edible Academy to learn how to grow and prepare vegetables, fruit, and herbs.
When: September 20-29, 2019
Where: 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York
Engineers & Artists: Digital Inclusion & Climate Protection
A one-night-only exhibition will project three digital artworks by New York-based artists Hadi Fallahpisheh, Devin N. Morris, and Summer Wheat onto Verizon’s skyscraper in lower Manhattan. The artists created their works in collaboration with three climate-forward engineers: Adam Atia (Columbia University); Ben Matusow (Insight Civil Engineering); Anne Shellum (BuroHappold Engineering).
The best viewing locations will be the Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian Walkway; Jane’s Carousel at Brooklyn Bridge Park; Pebble Beach at Brooklyn Bridge Park; and the Alfred E. Smith Houses (at the corner of Pearl & Robert Wagner Place).
When: September 26, 2019 at 7pm-11:59pm
Where: 375 Pearl Street, New York
Artist Joseph Michael illuminates the UN General Assembly (photo courtesy of Project Pressure)
Voices for the Future
On Friday, New Zealand-based artist Joseph Michael will illuminate the UN General Assembly and Secretariat buildings in New York with a large scale video installation titled Voices for the Future.
This installation will cover the facade of the UN building with images of a massive iceberg accompanied by the voices of six young climate advocates who will comment on the climate crisis in Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish, English, and Mandarin (the UN’s official languages). The words of the young activists will scroll the length of the building along with music by Brian Eno.
When: September 20, 2019
Where: United Nations Headquarters, 405 East 42nd Street, New York
