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The Equity, Ecology, and Economy of the Sixth Borough, New York Harbor
March 16 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
The Equity, Ecology, and Economy of the Sixth Borough, New York Harbor
Moderated by Tim Gilman-Sevcik, RETI Center
Panelists: Debra Bach, Eymund Diegel, Ellen K. Levy, Sabra Booth
Thursday, March 16, 2023, 6-8pm
Special Preview Performance with Margaret Craig 5-6pm
at BWAC
481 Van Brunt Street, Door 7
Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY 11231
New York City and other metropolis-scale plans for sea level rise and climate events fail to prioritize nature-based solutions, equitable access, and visionary solutions that can change our relationship to the water. New York Harbor is the Sixth Borough, the defining feature and least empowered part of the metropolis. The Sixth Borough is rising, and it lacks representation and advocacy for the human and other animal species that live and work on and near it. We must consider the lost glory, discrimination, and pollution that our waterfront has suffered and how revitalizing it holds the key to a healthier and more equitable approach to the changing climate.
Artists and experts in the history, economy, science and culture of the NYC waterfront welcome all to a discussion of why we must turn to water and natural systems, not seawalls and floodgates, for a sustainable future.
This presentation is held in conjunction with On the Waterfront: A View from the Coast (Line), a CENTRAL BOOKING exhibition in collaboration with the New-York Historical Society, featuring installations by fourteen artists. On view from March 3-April 23, Saturdays and Sundays, 12-6pm and by appointment.
The 44-page catalog for On the Waterfront: A View from the Coast (Line), including a Preface by Margi Hofer, Museum Director of the New-York Historical Society, is available for viewing and purchase online and at the New-York Historical Society Museum Shop.
Tim Gilman-Sevcik is a conceptual artist, educator, marketer, and writer. Personally affected by Superstorm Sandy, he now serves as Executive Director of the Resilience, Education, Training and Innovation (RETI) Center, a New York City nonprofit focused on turning disaster into potential by building urban resilience. He teaches at NYU Stern, and has been a visiting lecturer at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Parsons School of Design; School of the Visual Arts, and others.
Debra Schmidt Bach, Ph.D. is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Special Exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society. She has curated and collaborated on dozens of popular and social history exhibitions. Her forthcoming catalogue, Opulent Imagination: The Objets d’Art of André Chervin and Carvin French Jewelers (which will be accompanied by an exhibition of the same name) will be published by D. Giles Ltd. in September 2023.
Eymund Diegel is an Urban Planner specialized in the mapping and analysis of changing urban, rural, and natural habitat systems. His expertise includes environmental and transportation planning, infrastructure network mapping, polluted site cleanups, wetlands and ecosystem remediation and sustainable metropolitan structure planning. His current research work is focused on designing natural open space systems for our cities and regions to help with water pollution and urban climate change.
Ellen K. Levy is a multimedia artist and writer known for exploring art, science and technology interrelationships in exhibitions (e.g., NASA’s art program), educational/curatorial programs (e.g., Pratt Institute), and publications (she co- edits the Routledge/Taylor & Francis book series). She was President of the College Art Association (2004-2006) before earning her doctorate (2012) from the University of Plymouth (UK) on the art and neuroscience of attention.
Sabra Booth is an MFA graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art. She lived in New York for five years, teaching in the public schools. Early experiences in South Florida and her present exploration of the Texas coast affect her artistic vision. Recent study abroad travels in Japan and a Fulbright Grant to Finland, have had a great impact on her work.
