Tuesday, September 27 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
At BRIC House Stoop 647 Fulton Street (Enter on Rockwell Place) Brooklyn, NY 11217 United States
Brooklynites from all over the world are using radical methods to reclaim public spaces and build community. We’ll hear how technology, art-making, gardening, and wellness initiatives are creating more powerful neighborhoods and networks. A discussion and forum, with leaders from 596 Acres (Paula Z. Segal, Executive Director); ArtBuilt Mobile Studios (Guy Buckles, Co-Executive Director); Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (Shaquana Boykin, Healthy Communities Initiative Manager); Outer Seed Shadow Project, (artist Juanli Carrión); and artist Esperanza Mayobre. Moderated by artist, educator and activist Brooke Singer.
Organized in collaboration with Juanli Carrión.
ABOUT THE PROJECTS & PARTICIPANTS:
596 Acres: Founded in 2011, 596 Acres champions community land access. The project’s core in NYC is an online database of vacant public land in the City to support increased resident stewardship. The database exposes which land is public, reveals which agency has jurisdiction over each parcel and shares pathways to organizing which include contact information for neighbors targeting the same space for transformation. In five years, 36 resident groups have transformed vacant lots into vibrant parks, farms and gardens through 596 Acres’ facilitation.
ArtBuilt Mobile Studios: Responding to the urgent need for low-cost space for artists and community groups, ArtBuilt Mobile Studios designs and workspaces that give artists, startups, and community groups affordable and green spaces to create off-the-grid. Each studio is a street-legal trailer, easy enough for users to tow around the city themselves. The tiny studio is energy-efficient, and runs on solar, biodiesel or grid power. This past June ArtBuilt Mobile Studios took up residence in Kensington, and provided space for arts, cultural, and community building workhshops all month long, in collaboration with local community groups.
Healthy Community Initiatives, Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP): MARP’s Healthy Communities Initiative engages community members in improving access to healthy, affordable food in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill; supporting residents as they grow their own food; increasing community nutrition education & physical fitness opportunities; cultivating leaders of all ages; and documenting the food & health needs and desires of our community, especially for those with low incomes and seniors.
Outer Seed Shadow #2 (OSS#2): At the corner of Fort Greene Park and Myrtle Avenue, in Clinton hill, is a garden in the shape of Brooklyn planted with fruits, vegetables and flowers chosen by immigrants living throughout the borough. The survival of these plants in the garden through the five months of duration of the installation relies on the community. Throughout the summer, artist Juanli Carrión worked with neighborhood groups to tend to the garden, collectively creating strategies to help the sometimes competing species survive and thrive. The workshops touch on the metaphorical nature of the garden – and unlock discussions about co-existence, equity, cooperation, and resourcefulness.
Esperanza Mayobre, artist and OSS#2 participant
Esperanza Mayobre is a Brooklyn-based Venezuelan artist who grew during the Venezuelan oil boom, and was raised between Caracas and Golindano. She holds degrees in cabinetmaking and fine arts. Her current projects include a residency at the Lower East Side Printshop, a Jerome Foundation travel grant for a Brancusi pilgrimage in Romania, and a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship for investigating the collection of the National Air and Space Museum in D.C.
Brooke Singer, moderator
Brooke Singer engages technoscience as an artist, educator, nonspecialist and collaborator. Her work lives “on” and “off” line in the form of websites, workshops, photographs, maps, installations, public art and performances that often involves participation in pursuit of social change. She is Associate Professor of New Media at Purchase College, State University of New York, a former fellow at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center (2010-11), co-founder of the art, technology and activist group Preemptive Media (2002-2008) and co-founder of La Casita Verde, a community garden in South Williamsburg.
BRIC’s Stoop Series illuminates the arts and life around us in Brooklyn through artistic performances, presentations, participatory activities and dynamic conversations. Explore music, visual art, film, media, storytelling, comedy, and other creative fields. Grab a coffee or a cocktail and engage with some of the most innovative artistic voices in Brooklyn’s ever-expanding cultural scene. On the monumental interior stoop of BRIC House – there’s something different every week!
PLEASE NOTE WHEN RSVPING:
* Admittance is first come, first serve.
* The Stoop has a limited capacity and seating is NOT guaranteed.
