CALL Video Library

Resiliency In Urban Food Systems

A conversation with economic botanist Dr. Valerie Imbruce, architect and urbanist Stephen Fan, and founder of Think!Chinatown Yin Kong in which they explained the initiatives and concepts behind CALL / Chinatown’s Designing Food Awareness Project. This event took place as a part of Climate Week NYC 2020

Healing: Food & Our Future

Artist Tattfoo Tan and Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Donna Mah discuss how food can be a part of the healing process. This conversation, held on August 13th, 2020, launched Tattfoo's collaboration with CALL WuXing Oracle Cards, a project that will collect stories and recipes which connect to asian produce items with healing properties.

Mapping Chinatown’s Food Systems

Urbanist and architect Stephen Fan and economic botanist Dr. Valerie Imbruce lead nearly 100 participants through Chinatown’s narrow streets to explore the Food System that sustains an entire region, and the challenges it faces.

Heat Mapping

Architect Joyce Hwang and environmental engineer Prathap Ramamurthy documented the “hidden” physical conditions — in particular heat loss and retention — of rent-controlled buildings in Chinatown through thermal imaging. This WALK explored the substandard housing condition in many buildings in Chinatown and reflected on how the arts could be a catalyst to reveal the benefits of strategic renovations to energy conservation and livability.

Mosholu

Maya Ciarrocchi and Francheska Alcantara share personal reflections on their connection to water and water bodies, specifically their relationship to the landscape of Northern Manhattan, the Bronx, and the history of Tibbetts Brook. This work is inspired by Ciarrocchi’s beautiful cyanotype images of Tibbetts Brook, created during a residency at Wave Hill.

Walking the Edge of the Harlem River

Artist Mary Miss and Senior Project Manager at New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Tolga Yilmaz discuss the history of the Tibbetts Brook, the sewage infrastructure of New York City, the benefits of daylighting Tibbetts Brook, and the benefit that will have on the surrounding environment and infrastructure.

Walking Tibbetts

Recording of a panel discussion between artist Matthew Jensen, ecologist Eric Sanderson and historian Robert Fanuzzi on the past, present and future of Tibbetts Brook, in May 2020

The Tree & I

CALL’s first self-guided audio CALL/WALK, led by artist Nicolás Dumit Estévez and Van Corltandt Park ecological project Manager John Buter. To launch the tour, CALL hosted a virtual conversation discussing the ecology of Van Cortlandt Park and their personal history with it.

The Tree & I

Artist Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo and Ecological Project Manger John Butler lead a contemplative walk through Van Cortlandt Park exploring the deep connection between people and nature.

Bob Braine’s Estuary Tattoos

With his Estuary Tattoos, artist Bob Braine maps both the history and the future of Tibbetts Brook and its surrounding wetlands on the bodies of local NorthWest Bronx residents through a series of body-painting events throughout the summer and early fall of 2018. Part of CALL's Daylighting Tibbetts Brook initiative.

CALL/WALKS: Milwaukee

Highlights of two Milwaukee WALKs, “Connecting Water and Art in the Garden Homes” and “Restoration and Reclamation in the 30th Street Corridor,” both of which deal with water issues in Milwaukee.

WaterMarks: An Atlas of Water

WaterMarks is an urban scaled project for the City of Milwaukee designed to help its residents better understand their relationship to the natural systems and infrastructure that supports their lives.

WaterMarks Pulaski Park

In this CALL WALK artist Jessica Muenick-Ganger, River Revitalization Foundation land manager Joanna Demas, about the history of the KK river, the impact of the concrete riverbed the KK river sits in on the wellness of the community and landscape, and the biodiversity that surrounds it in Pulaski Park.

The Urban Garden

Artist Kanene Holder and biologist Paul Mankiewicz explored how people interact with nature and questioned where and if urban planning has succeeded or failed to accommodate natural ecosystems.

Food, Culture & the Urban Environment

Artist Miguel Luciano and environmental scientist Daniel Carrion led a walk to bring awareness on the complex relationships between migration, housing, food insecurity and pollution in West Harlem.

Ice Cubed: An Inquiry into the Aesthetics, History, and Science of Ice

Artist Marshall Reese and anthropologist Ben Orlove revealed the geological traces and disappearances in the neighborhood of Columbia University's Heyman Center. This CALL WALK was presented for Ice Cubed: An Inquiry into the Aesthetics, History, and Science of Ice, a two day conference hosted by the Heyman Center.

Places, Pleasures, & Public Space

This WALK explored the qualities that make public spaces inviting or unwelcoming — considering habitat, migration, and the relationship between social and natural ecology. They examined the pleasures and benefits of public space by looking at the Upper West Side and the populations it serves through the perspectives of three New Yorkers who significantly shaped public space in the city: Frederick Law Olmsted, Robert Moses, and Jane Jacobs.

Broadway: 1000 Steps —Jean Shin & Robin Nagle

Artist Jean Shin and ecologist Robin Nagle highlighted the often invisible immigrant population, systems and economies that are part of the ecology of Chinatown. Shin and Nagle focused on recycling work done by canners, patterns of consumption, and hidden infrastructures of waste stream and labor, as well as Nagle's research into unofficial can redemptions infrastructure.

Broadway: 1000 Steps — Ellen Driscoll, Joyce Hwang & Mckenzie Younger

Artists Ellen Driscoll, Mckenzie Younger and architect Joyce Hwang’s WALK explored the urban ecosystem of Chinatown, touching on the history and evolution of the neighborhood around Collect Pond from a freshwater pond landscape to an industrialized urban area. The WALK conveyed the profound effects that human actions have on urban ecosystems.

Broadway: 1000 Steps — Mary Ting, Paul Bartlett & Sophie Plitt

Artist Mary Ting, scientist Paul Bartlett, and urban forester Sophie Plitt discussed the nuances of post 9-11 air pollution, toxicity and quality of life issues that Chinatown residents face. The walk began on the Southwest corner of Broadway and Canal and ended in front of the Confucius Plaza.

Habitats And High Rises

Artist Marshall Reese and naturalist Mike Feller discuss the history of invasive species — both cultural and natural, coupling the story of Columbus, with the the European dove (colomba) and the history of apartment developments in New York City. The WALK focused on 59th Street/ Columbus Circle.

Microbial Maps

Geneticist Dr. Chris Mason and artist Will Lamson talk about microbiomes in urban spaces — the invisible forces that animate the world. They discuss Dr. Mason's project to map the bacteria in New York City's subway system and how those microorganisms are generally benign or even have a positive effect on the ecosystem of the subway system. The walk is on Houston Street/ Lower East Side.

Collision Theory: Birds and Buildings

Architect Joyce Hwang and naturalist Gabriel Willow explore the possibilities for architecture that supports urban species. They addressed the intersection of urban wildlife with the built urban environment, specifically focusing on the relationship between buildings and birds. They discuss how buildings are cited as the primary “killer” of migratory birds but how urban building façades can serve as bird habitats.

Revitalizing Urban Waterways

SLO Architecture and hydrologist Theo Barbagianis envision reconnecting and rejuvenating the fragmented waterways around Van Cortlandt Park. The WALK mission was to detect signs of former and latent natural riparian landscapes, as well as identify telling fragments of cityscape, to help uncover the possibilities to unlock and restore the ecological future of this Bronx neighborhood within the waterway network of New York City.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Artist Heather Hart and sociologist Dalton Conley led an interactive discussion on the history and future of the Lower East Side — the most economically unequal neighborhood in the United States. They discuss the class and art history of the neighborhood, the changing populations and the vestiges of those changes. Houston St./ Lower East Side

The Identity of Water

Artist Juanli Carrión and sociologist Gianpaolo Baiocchi will lead a cultural journey through different flavors of water. Participants will get a perspective of the different "identities" water can have and how susceptible these identities are to change, while learning about the past and the future of the neighborhood and its population.

Noise and The Psychogeography On The Street

Urban design strategist Howard Chambers and Environmental Psychologist Arline Bronzaft discussed noise and the psychogeography on the street. The WALK observed the sounds of the street and how those sounds are interpreted and perceived. They started on Central Park West.

Ruminations on Extinct Topography

Artist Bob Braine, plant ecologist Rebecca Swadek, and botanist George Jackman, focused on stream resiliency and fish habitat. They discuss the history of Tibbets Brook, the ecology of the of marble hill and the contemporary connection the neighborhood has to the water.

Production and Consumption in the Bronx

Walking in a circle starting and ending at 228th Street, artist Mary Mattingly and scientist Sabine Marx described cycles of historic and future visions, building and preserving projects that highlight New York's resources. From farms to gardens, the rivers to the reservoir, spaces of production and consumption, how we simultaneously re-imagine spaces around the powers that be.

Our Democratic Public Space

Writers Garnette Cadogan and Jonathan Tarleton explore the qualities that make public spaces inviting or unwelcoming. They open the notion public space to include not only parks, but the sidewalk and the subway, and articulate how all these public spaces share and participate in an ecology. They discuss Frederick Law Olmsted, Robert Moses, and Jane Jacobs, as they walk from Central Park West to Riverside Park.

Collaboration: A Force for Change

Architect Marlon Blackwell, engineer Marty Matlock, and artist Mary Miss discuss the importance and challenges of collaboration. They discuss their own careers collaborating with each other and articulate how the act of collaboration is in and of itself a fruitful learning experience — having different perspectives inform the process and read the landscape.

The Ecology Of Our Public Life

A conversation with artist Walter Hood, ecologist Dr. Steward Pickett and artist Mary Miss discussed how urban planning, design, and public policy have impacted our ecosystems and the wellbeing of urban dwellers in disparate and inequitable ways. They discussed the ongoing work of changing this dynamic through creative collaboration – and the role of artists and designers in envisioning and implementing resilient, equitable, and sustainable cities.

Walking Tibbetts

Recording of a panel discussion between artist Matthew Jensen, ecologist Eric Sanderson and historian Robert Fanuzzi on the past, present and future of Tibbetts Brook, in May 2020

Walking the Edge of the Harlem River

Artist Mary Miss and Senior Project Manager at New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Tolga Yilmaz discuss the history of the Tibbetts Brook, the sewage infrastructure of New York City, the benefits of daylighting Tibbetts Brook, and the benefit that will have on the surrounding environment and infrastructure.

Pause and Hum

On June 10th, artist Nicolas Dumit Estevez Raful Espejo and urban beekeeper Dr. Luke Dixon pollinated an experiential conversation on bees and breathing. This program was part of CALL's ongoing series of virtual conversations between artists and scientists on pressing issues of climate, equity, and health.

The Tree & I

CALL’s first self-guided audio CALL/WALK, led by artist Nicolás Dumit Estévez and Van Corltandt Park ecological project Manager John Buter. To launch the tour, CALL hosted a virtual conversation discussing the ecology of Van Cortlandt Park.

Breaching Waterways Along the Anacostia River - Washington, DC

Performance artist Katie Kehoe and Leading climate scientist Dr. Jagadish Shukla led an experiential WALK through Heritage Islands and the Anacostia River. The serene character of these islands, which are home to a plethora of wildlife, offers a unique opportunity for this exchange.

Walking The Urban Wilderness, 2019 - Pittsburg, PA

Artist Natalie Settles, biologist Charles Beir, and landscape architect Kara Smith explore Hays Wood, a former industrial mining site which has returned to the wild and is soon to become a city park.

Nest + Flow - Baltimore, MD

Artist Jann Rosen-Queralt and ecologist Lea Johnson highlighted the way species, water and energy move through the landscape, exposing ecological patterns and processes often overlooked or unseen.

Atomic Stories - Santa Fe, NM

Artist Andrea Polli organizes a walk with nuclear Historian Luis Campos and Activist Tina Cordova on the impact of the atomic bomb on the landscape and people of New Mexico.

WaterMarks - Milwaukee, WI

Highlights of two Milwaukee WALKs, “Connecting Water and Art in the Garden Homes” and “Restoration and Reclamation in the 30th Street Corridor,” both of which deal with water issues in Milwaukee.

Re-Greening the KK River - Milwaukee, WI

Artist Jessica Muenick-Ganger, River Revitalization Foundation land manager Joanna Demas, about the history of the KK river, the impact of the concrete riverbed the KK river sits in on the wellness of the community and landscape, and the biodiversity that surrounds it in Pulaski Park.

St.Louis

CALL co-organized a three-part WALK for Marfa Dialogues/St. Louis (MD/STL) which started at the controversial 30-acre former public housing site, Pruitt-Igoe, demolished 40 years ago. The site has since lain fallow in a poor neighborhood of St. Louis. From Pruitt-Igoe the WALK continued down blocks with many abandoned homes, adjacent to others undergoing new housing construction, past urban farms, and ended in Grand Center - a cultural hub in St. Louis that still struggles from the consequences of de-population.

Participants included: artist Bob Hansman, poet MK Stallings, plant biologist George Yatskievych, architect Tyler Meyr, environmentalist and public policy activist Lorin Crandall, architects Axi:Ome, and plant morphologist Dan Chitwood.

Shifting Domains: Artists Respond to the Threatened Ecological Commons

Suzaan Boettger, art historian and critic, moderated this discussion between artists Mary Miss, Matthew Jensen, and scientist Patrick Kinney, along with Julie Reiss, author of From Margins to Center, The Spaces of Installation Art, on the erosion of traditional distinctions between art and utility and emerging hybrids of artistic, social, and ecological functionality. Together they reflected on how various artists’ strategies are recasting the role of the artist as an effective catalyst for social and environmental change.

Jane’s Walk

Mary Miss/ City As Living Laboratory and renowned game designer Josh DeBonis teamed up to create an interactive experience for this year's Jane's Walk. With input from historian Miriam Berman, naturalist Gabriel Willow, architect Juliette Spertus and Flatiron BID representative Scott Lamkin, the collaborative team compiled three sets of "playful" instructions to prompt investigations of environmental and historical features of Madison Square Park and its surrounds. The game was inspired, in part, by the French Situationists dérive.

Jane’s Walk

Artist’s Excerpts

CaLL/MAS BROADWAY:1000 Steps Jane’s Walk 2013

CaLL organized a two-part Jane's Walk that ran the length of Broadway from Van Cortlandt Park to Bowling Green (nearly 15 miles!) over the weekend of May 4-5th, 2013. We were joined along the way by 20 different walk hosts from a variety of backgrounds and expertise. This walk was organized in conjunction with the Municipal Art Society as part of their annual Jane's Walk weekend in celebration of the birthday of the late Jane Jacobs.

Jane’s Walk

In conjunction with the Municipal Art Society's Jane's Walk weekend, we walked the length of Broadway from Van Cortlandt Park to Bowling Green on Sunday, May 6th. We were joined by over 20 walk hosts who shared their expertise on topics ranging from history to wildlife.