As part of this year's VERGE conference on the topic of 'elasticity' I am giving a very short talk at Parsons tentatively titled:

NOT DEAD YET: THE SURPRISING ELASTICITY OF POST INDUSTRIAL BIOTOPES/REMIXED AND NOVEL ECOSYSTEMS IN THE RUINS OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

The venue is

The New School University Center 63 5th Avenue, New York, NY

If anyone is in the neighbourhood please check it out! 

I am giving a brief talk at Free Association Design in Brooklyn, in acknowledgement of the massive disturbances we are experiencing in the wake of the recent US elections.

20 Jay St, Suite 516

in Dumbo, Brooklyn

freeassociation.is

N.B! This has been rescheduled to May 14th from the original April 22nd date due to a family emergency.

So sorry for any inconvenience.

I'm giving a workshop on postindustrial ecologies at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY.

Please check the Sanctuary website for the exact times.

Here is the blurb describing what is supposed to happen:

Stretching from Troy to the New York harbor, the Hudson River’s estuary has played an integral part in the rise and fall of America as a vast industrial power. Its waters and surrounding landscapes have been heavily impacted since the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution and there are troubling legacies of persistent pollutants such as the the PCBs left behind by the General Electric manufacturing plant at Hudson Falls. Yet there are signs of regeneration, if one knows where to look. Abandoned factory landscapes called brownfields harbour surprising biodiversity as the man-made habitats they contain mimic prairies and savannahs, cliffs and gravel banks. The post-industrial flora and fauna that thrives in these disturbed sites comprises a ‘hyper-ecology’  - a  fascinating mix of natives and exotics, pioneer species, habitat opportunists and a range of other organisms that benefit from conditions that are significantly hotter, more alkaline and less fertile than the primeval ecosystem so long ago obliterated. With the decline in industrial activity and the enforcement of laws governing the discharge of pollutants, aquatic ecosystems too are showing signs of recovery, despite significant challenges. Who would have thought even a few decades ago that humpback whales could once again be seen feeding in the East River just off Gracie Mansion?

In his talk and workshop, ecological artist, writer and activist Oliver Kellhammer will frame post-industrial ecologies as sites of renewal and the emergence of novel processes. In collaboration with artist Kathy High, he has been compiling a field guide to the biodiversity of the brownfields of Troy and has been experimenting with strategies for bioremediating contaminated soils in the area using a combination of fungi and plants.

This panel in Greenpoint Brooklyn was a lot of fun. Many thanks to Sara Blazej and the folks at Cleopatra's for putting this on! Thanks also to my co-panelists Stephanie Wakefield, Christopher Kennedy and Karolina Sobecka for their all around brilliance!

Check out the Linnaea Farm website to register!

 

This will be so much fun! The venue is the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, New York! I'll be co-leading (with the amazing Azuré Keahi) a biomapping, bio-inventory walk to catalog some of the biodiversity in the postindustrial lands in North Troy.

• • How can we identify underserved marginalized communities to build engaged, diverse networks, on grounds considered “wastelands”?
  • What forms of life flourish amid the ruins of ruderal ecologies?
  • What happens when we include “nonhuman” forms of life–including plants and animals–in our thinking about human flourishing?

for more info: https://www.mediasanctuary.org/event/ruderal-ecologies/

Some of my worm-eaten 'Philosopher's Stones' will be appearing at the Science Gallery in Dublin in an arrangement entitled 'Plastivore.'

Here is the description of the exhibition:

How do things survive in outer space, on the bottom of the ocean or inside volcanoes? Why do extreme environments excite our imagination and our drive to explore? How do inhospitable environs inspire new technologies, designs and methods?

From terraforming planets to tracking microbes on geothermal vents, this exhibition will explore LIFE AT THE EDGES. Who are the scientists and designers preparing for a future of frontier living and what might we find living in the most unexpected places like lava tubes, Antarctic mountaintops, or Martian permafrost? Will humans ever inhabit the moons of Saturn or the deep sea, or have we already contaminated the last frontiers with space junk, plastic gyres and invasive species?

'Plastivore'

 

I am teaching a 2-day workshop in conjunction with the amazing ethnobotanist and agronomist, Hannah Roessler, at Pacific Rim College's Raven Hill farm facility in Saanichton, British Columbia. Should be fun!

For details see here:

https://www.pacificrimcollege.com/workshops/event/permaculture-and-the-anthropocene/

From AGGV Magazine 

A groundbreaking new show for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Called “In the Present Moment: Buddhism, Contemporary Art and Social Practice,” this major curatorial undertaking will examine the significant impact of Buddhism on North American art and artists since the mid-twentieth century, and, in turn, artists’ role in evolving forms of Buddhism. The project is funded with grants from the Robert H N Ho Family Foundation of Hong Kong, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, of New York.