Exhibitions - Who Takes Care of New York?

Who Takes Care of New York?

09.12.19 – 09.29.19

A map of New York City illustrating the city block grid. Spread across the five boroughs are lime green dots with varying diameters. Connecting a number of dots are curved red lines. Overlayed on the map is a pixelated image of a person crouching down with their attention towards the ground.

image credit: by SAVI (Spatial Analytics and Visualization Initiative) , Can Sucuoglu, 2019.

Who Takes Care of New York? is an exploration of the variety of civic groups that exist and thrive in New York City, and the ways that they care for and support their local environments. Displayed through maps, art, and storytelling, this exhibition aims to empower visitors with an understanding of their capacity to make lasting changes in their neighborhoods.

 

This exhibition is organized by the USDA Forest Service’s New York City Urban Field Station (NYC UFS) and Pratt Institute’s Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative (SAVI), along with Independent Curator, Christina Freeman. Featured artists whose work aligns with the themes of community-based stewardship, civic engagement, and social infrastructure, include Magali Duzant and Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, and two NYC Urban Field Station Artists-in-Residence, Matthew Jensen and Julia Oldham.

 

Opening Night Reception

Thursday, September 12, 6-8pm
We welcome you to join us on Thursday, September 12 for the opening night reception of Who Takes Care of New York? at the Queens Museum to celebrate the scientists, artists, stewardship groups, and community partners which have made this exhibit possible. Light refreshments will be served.

 

Performance: Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow “The Picnic: Harvest of the STEW”

 

Sunday, September 15, 2-4pm
Location: Museum Lawn, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Please join us in the park directly outside of Queens Museum for a performance by Jodie Lyn Kee Chow, honoring stewardship groups in the five boroughs whose work centers around food justice issues. Lyn-Kee-Chow will be joined by representatives from Edible Schoolyard NYC, La Familia Verde, Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, Smiling Hogshead Ranch, and Sunnyside CSA. These four organizations serving The Bronx, Brooklyn, Harlem and Queens will be highlighted for their projects organized by and supporting New York City’s communities of color and immigrant populations. The performance will begin at 2pm.

 

Curator Walk-through 

Saturday, September 21, 12:30-1:30pm
Location: Community Partnership Gallery, 2nd floor
Lindsay K. Campbell, Research Social Scientist with the Forest Service will lead a tour of the exhibition Who Takes Care of New York? Artist, Julia Oldham will join to discuss her project Undiscovered City, featured in the show.

 

Panel: How We See Stewardship
Saturday, September 21, 2-4pm
Location: Queens Museum Auditorium, 2nd floor 
Moderated by Lindsay Campbell (USDA Forest Service), Panelists Magali Duzant, Pamela Pettyjohn, Can Sucuoğlu, Erika Svendsen
Artists, scientists, and designers alike have brought Who Takes Care of New York to life by using the power of visualization to allow us to see stewardship and celebrate those who take care of our city. From the technical to the tactical, we will explore the various strategies employed by these practitioners. Join us for a discussion on the power of images, data visualization, and storytelling to communicate the important role that stewards play in caring for and shaping our city.

 

OFFSITE: 

 

The Natural Areas Conservancy presents: Forest Bathing in Forest Park, Queens 
Sunday, September 22, 10am-1pm
Location: Forest Park, Queens

OFFSITE: 

 

Who Takes Care of New York: Stewardship Saturday with NYC Parks
Saturday, September 28, Multiple Locations
Inspired to join your fellow New Yorkers in taking care of our city? We’re teaming up with the Stewardship Team at NYC Parks on Saturday, September 28th to practice environmental stewardship here in our own backyard.

 

Street Tree Care: 9am – 1pm at Parkchester, Bronx. Come work with NYC Parks Stewardship to care for Local Street trees! Volunteers will learn how to aerate, cultivate, mulch, and identify street trees. Register here.

 

Wetland Restoration: 9am – 1pm at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. Join NYC Parks Stewardship as we restore wetlands in Flushing Meadows Corona Park! Volunteers will learn how to safely remove invasive plants from the Meadow Lake shoreline in order to help create a healthier ecosystem.

 

Beautify Fort Tryon Park: 10am – 1pm at Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan. Join New York Cares to beautify this historic and scenic park by weeding, planting, removing invasive species and more.

 

 

The NYC Urban Field Station, a partnership between the USDA Forest Service, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, and the Natural Areas Conservancy, has a mission to improve quality of life in urban areas by conducting and supporting research about social-ecological systems and natural resource management (www.nrs.fs.fed.us/nyc). SAVI is a multi-disciplinary mapping research lab and service center that focuses on using geospatial analysis and data visualization to understand NYC communities (https://commons.pratt.edu/savi).

Participating Artists

— Magali Duzant

— Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow

— Matthew Jensen

— Julia Oldham

Supporters

Who Takes Care of New York? is supported by the NYC Urban Field Station, a partnership between the USDA Forest Service, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; the Natural Areas Conservancy; The Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative at Pratt Institute; Community Partnership Exhibition Program at the Queens Museum.

 

The Community Partnership Exhibition Program at the Queens Museum provides opportunities for cultural and other nonprofit organizational partners to develop and mount short-term exhibitions based on their programs and our collaborative projects.