TIMESEED

An intergenerational public art project that invites residents to gather stories and share visions for a just future, and – like seeds – send them through time to coming generations.

What Seeds of Wisdom, Hope or Justice do you want to share with The Future?

 TimeSeed featured an exhibit of rare and exceptional seeds from all over the world, along with two weekends of large scale art builds for the Youth Climate Strike, several music performances, and numerous ways of local neighborhood storytelling. Together with members of the Gowanus, Brookyn community – from children to seniors – participants were asked to share stories of the neighborhood’s past and a vision for the world they are fighting for.

For 5 weeks the project was stationed in a mobile art studio on wheels that took up residence in Thomas Greene Park in Gowanus, next door to public housing complex which was a close partner. Every weekend the exhibit expanded to encompass a section of the park, inviting residents to make art work, participate in live events, prepare for a mass mobilization, and chronicle their own stories.

The project was an artists residency with ArtBuilt Mobile Studio in the Park in partnership with ArtBuilt, Queens Museum, NYC Parks, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Arts Gowanus, Friends of Thomas Greene Park, Textile Arts, Arts & Democracy, and NOCD-NY. This project was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Community Trust and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

SEED EXHIBITION

The mobile studio featured an exhibition of rare and exotic natural seeds from all over world, as well as seed-based musical instruments, sensory seed experience, and strange facts about seeds, and how they transmit information across generations of time. The exibition included Entada Rheedi, or the Dream Seed, which is known to cause vivid, memorable dreaming. Participants were asked to hold the large seed in their palms, and envision the future of the neighborhood they want to create.

FLYING SCULPTURES

The first open workshop was an invitation to build inflatable mylar sculptures (i.e. balloons) based on natural seed forms. I formed a partnership with the local NYCHA housing development, and seniors and children were regular attendees.

TIME CAPSULES

Visitors to the studio constructed 3-D lasercut sculptures based on natural seed forms. They were then asked to write letters to their future selves, and then insert them into the core of their time capsule, to be opened at a specified date in the future.

ELDER HISTORIES

Oral historians from local universities were invited to come and record the stories of elderly residents who grew up in Gowanus.

ART BUILD

For two weekends, the space was opened up to serve as a massive art production space for the September 20 Global Climate #YouthStrike, when thousands of young people took to the streets to demand Climate Justice. The Red Hook community

MUSIC PERFORMANCES

Several musical performances occurred during the residency including local folk artist Jeremiah Moore, hip hop duos and more.