Artists, activists, and designers engage the meeting of land with water. Facing climate change and rising sea levels, this event links New York with communities across the nation and globe that sit at water’s edge. This afternoon activation is inspired by acclaimed director Peter Sellars’ call to “listen to the oceans,” and by director and scholar May Joseph‘s call for cosmopolitan citizenship in “fluid New York.” From the work of Indigenous water protectors who challenge extractive futures to urban planners responding to waterfront access, Art at Water’s Edge will offer an intergenerational forum for the imagination in action.

Session 1: Opening Session: Listening to the Ocean
11:00am–2:00pm

11:00am–12:00pm: Keynote Conversation with Peter Sellars
Veterans Room
Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) director Peter Sellars delivers an address to the art world on the meaning and urgency of ‘ecological civilization’ in the next generation.

12:00pm–1:00pm: Of Whales with Wu Tsang
Board of Officers Room
Artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang discusses three recent works—Moby Dick, Of Whales, and Moved by the Motion—that look to CLR James’ classic text, Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways, among other influences, to envision transfuturity from a whale’s eye view of the cosmos. Moderated by Global Asia theorist and Dartmouth scholar Eng-Beng Lim.

1:00pm–2:00pm: Film Screening Room
19K
Includes moving image work by Jim Bowermaster, Coco Fusco, Sarah Cameron Sunde, Tourmaline, Wu Tsang, Kiyan Williams, and Geo Wyex, among others.

Session 2: Mid-Day Session: Water, Ritual, History
2:00pm–3:30pm

2:00pm–3:30pm: Concurrent Sessions

Session 3: Afternoon Session: Where Do We Go From Here?
4:00pm–6:30pm

4:00pm–5:15pm: Concurrent Sessions

4:00pm–6:00pm: Film Screening Room
19K
Includes moving image work by Jim Bowermaster, Coco Fusco, Sarah Cameron Sunde, Tourmaline, Wu Tsang, Kiyan Williams, and Geo Wyex, among others.

5:30pm–6:30pm: Closing Remarks with May Joseph
Veterans Room
Author and director May Joseph (Fluid New York, Terra Aqua) shares some of her recent work and reflects upon the day’s proceedings. Moderated by Tavia Nyong’o.

All-Day Exhibits
11:00am–6:30pm

#BLACKPRINTS by Jerome W Haferd
First Floor Entryway
This visualization by the artist and architect Jerome W Haferd in the entrance to the Armory animates the well-known Viele Map of Manhattan (1865) which documents the historic lakes, rivers, and waterways over which the modern city grid has been built. Haferd has employed AI technology to fabulate the future of the island’s coastline, as rising sea levels are projected to reshape it. Mindful of past as well as future, he has also traced in red the paths travelled by the first nations on Lenapehoking, and, in black, the shifting locations of the historically black neighborhoods that have moved steadily uptown because of pogroms, gentrification, and displacement. Using your smart phone in the hall, you can also enter an augmented reality version of this rendering that spatializes this information and allows you to experience art at water’s edge as a living document.

Photo Exhibition: Neo-Animism: Luck is Alive
Library and Second Floor Hallway
Renowned photographer Pieter Hugo presents a portfolio of provocative images, Neo-Animism: Luck is Alive, in creative collaboration with Mami Wata Surf that express the vitality of surfing traditions in Africa and its diaspora. Speaking about the concept behind the use of distortion and reflection in the photo shoot, creative director Peet Pienaar explains that it is a way of representing how, as a surfer, you might “see yourself within the ocean.”

Reading Table
Second Floor Hallway
Peruse reading materials that tackle the intersection of climate change with art and design, including puppeteer, theater director, and Founder of Harmattan Theater company May Joseph‘s Fluid New York and Terra Aqua as well as Mami Wata‘s Afro Surf, among others.

Installation: Island (Phragmites autralis)
Company E
Island (Phragmites australis) by eco-systems artist Michael Wang presents a ring of reeds radiating from a central void. The reed species, Phragmites australis subsp. australis, is native to Europe and Asia and is considered invasive in the New York City region, where it forms dense monocultural stands in coastal wetlands. In some areas, these stands have become important storm surge barriers and slow coastal erosion. On the eastern coast of China, where Phragmites australis is native, the species is being displaced by the Atlantic American salt marsh species Sporobolus alterniflorus (smooth cordgrass).

Return to the Making Space at the Armory Listing

October 9, 2022

Sunday, October 9, 2022
11:00am, 2:00pm, and 4:00pm
Single Session: $25 (plus fees)
Day Pass: $45 (plus fees)

Health and Safety Protocols
Effective September 26, 2022, masks are optional—all guests are encouraged to wear a mask in the Armory to protect themselves and others. To view additional COVID-19 Policies, please visit our FAQs page.

Sign up for our email list to get notifications and reminders about purchasing tickets for this and other upcoming events.