NOoSPHERE Arts presents REPOPULATIONS: New Horizons, a group site-specific art exhibition focused on environmental reflection, from September 30 – October 23, 2022 at 520 Kingsland Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. There will be an opening reception held on Friday, September 30, 2022 from 6-9pm. For more information, please visit noosphere-arts.nyc/exhibitions.
REPOPULATIONS: New Horizons is the second iteration of the Climate Week-inspired exhibition series REPOPULATIONS which focuses on environmentally themed subjects and takes place yearly during the summer and early fall months. Curated by Daniela Holban, the exhibition is part of the larger NOoSPHERE Arts’ WE ARE NATURE Series: art events that make full use of the unique stage setting of the Kingsland Wildflowers bird sanctuary at Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to engage a diverse audience in environmental efforts through art.
The exhibition brings together a group of contemporary artists to reflect and discuss environmentally-focused themes, the state of the world today, and new conceptions of the future. The exhibition will focus on female-identifying and non-binary artists, in an attempt to construct visions of the power of creation + destruction and metaphorically reclaim sacred spaces for the priestess archetype. This temporary environment will be used for reflection, meditation, and celebration of nature, humanity, and inspiration, a place meant to contemplate how we will build a new world after the pandemic: the epoch-defining event of our time. The exhibition will present site-specific installations, immersive sound experiences, video, sculpture, and 2D works and will occupy Last Frontier NYC and parts of the Kingsland Wildflowers Rooftops.
The exhibition is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), NOoSPHERE Arts and Broadway Stages.
Featured artists include
Isabel Beavers, Sarah E. Brook, Sabrina Barrios, Beatriz Chachamovits, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Rachel Frank, Jodie Mim Goodnough, Valerie Hallier, Deborah Jack, Cheryl Maeder, Virginia Luna Montgomery, Aradhita Parasrampuria, Valincy-Jean Patelli, Daniela Gomez Paz, María-Elena Pombo, Ásdís Sif, Asia Sztencel, Whitney Vangrin and Alex Wolkowicz
The Season began with:
WE ARE NATURE 1 | Water is Life on Saturday, May 28, 2022
Dance by Thunderbirds Native American Dancers, as well as NVA & Guests, curated by CreateART. Thoughts on Water read by internationally renowned eco literacy scholar Fritjof Capra. Music by cellist Lenna Pierce. Brazilian artist Sabrina Barrios was announced as the inaugural winner of Broadway Stages’ Residency Award @ Kingsland Wildflowers. Her site-specific installation will remain on view on Upper Meadow throughout the entire season.
WE ARE NATURE 2 | Solstice Celebration on Saturday, June 25, 2022
Dance & music by Ñukanchik Llakta Wawakuna, Ñawpa Mashikuna, and Pakarina Humbracuna; Comunidad Andida from the Andes; local practitioners of Danza Mexica; and Afro-Cuban Melvis Santa with her band, La Rumba de Santa. Wise words on Nature’s Cycles by internationally renowned ecoliteracy scholar Fritjof Capra. Mensajes Espirituales by La Aurora, a Santera Mayor, on Wildflowers’ Lower Meadow. On the Upper Meadow, experience a site-specific installation by Brazilian artist Sabrina Barrios: an eco-feminist take on ancient celestial mythology.
WE ARE NATURE 3 | Wildflower Festival on Saturday, July 23, 2022
Dance by CreateART, Visual Art, Wise Words, and Play across the roofs! Music and dance performances by Jordan McLean’s Musical Resistance, Momentum, Stephen Shynes, EB Dance, and Sticks & Stone. A Kingsland Wildflowers partner event in collaboration with NCA, Alive Structures and Broadway Stages. Capra: The Web of Life.
WE ARE NATURE 4 | Breakdown, Breakthrough on Saturday, August 27, 2022
Gjert Rognli’s project «What nature knows – Dan maid luondu diehtá» reflects a personal affiliation with Arctic Northern Norway – a region defined by light, darkness, and stark seasonal contrasts. Rognli, who hails from the Indigenous Sámi people, draws on his childhood experiences among shamans steeped in the ancient animist folk religion. Through film, photography, sculpture, and performance, the artist explores his passionate bond with the organic world. With this immersive experience, Rognli invites us all on a mythological journey into deep forests and across misty waterways—where surreal phenomena guide the viewer through the unknown. As an overarching theme for WE ARE NATURE 2022 we have selected a book from our very own favorite Scholar-in-Residence, Fritjof Capra, titled Patterns of connection. For more information and to register, visit noosphere-arts.nyc/we-are-nature.
WE ARE NATURE 5 | Gritt on Friday, September 2, 2022
Outdoor screening of feature film Gritt by Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, followed by a Q&A session with the international filmmaker. The film follows the title character on her journey from Bushwick, Brooklyn, to Oslo and beyond. Gritt is on a passionate quest to manifest her performance, “The White Inflammation,” a radical collective ritual meant to pierce the complacent fog cloaking privileged Scandinavia. With each hurdle, Gritt grows more desperate, and her mission to bury capitalism and the patriarchy takes her to increasingly unexpected places. Pushed by forces beyond her control, Gritt finds her way into the deep forests, where nature opens hidden doors.
WE ARE NATURE 6 | Climate Week Event on Saturday, September 24, 2022
Site-specific dance performed by Thryn Saxon and Princess Lockerooo, curated by CreateART in collaboration with Singing Violinist Katy Gunn. Capra: Earth Ethics. Rooftop Concert by Duo Lívia & Fred; Art Exhibit Repopulations: New Horizons curated by Daniela Holban.
WE ARE NATURE 2022 is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). NOsSPHERE Arts programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
About NOoSPHERE Arts
NOoSPHERE Arts is a 501c3 organization and cultural center led by a team of international creatives whose backgrounds blend the arts and sciences. Its freewheeling, multidisciplinary approach engages diverse audiences and builds community through a range of vibrant public events in its indoor-outdoor home in New York City’s Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Founded in 2011 by painter Sol Kjok, NOoSPHERE Arts is run by four international creatives whose backgrounds blend arts & sciences. Our name refers to a sphere of thought joining humankind in a collective, planetary consciousness. We advocate and support transnational cultural mobility & collaboration, empowering artists to engage communities in dialogue. Resolutely embracing inclusivity and the development of a more equitable world, we have produced and presented 120+ multidisciplinary arts events to the NYC audience.
Greenpoint is home to many artists, but our neighborhood offers few arenas where the creative tribe can share their works with the community: NOoArts is the only multidisciplinary arts center in our part of town. To boot, our unique indoor & outdoor stages are an experience on their own: through our productions, visitors get access to a secluded portion of the waterfront and a rooftop wildlife sanctuary offering unexpected opportunities to enjoy and commune with nature in an otherwise drab industrial area.
NOoSPHERE Arts’ physical headquarters plays a critical role in our mission: located by Newton Creek, a Superfund site, our building is crowned with rooftop community gardens offering unobstructed views (of Greenpoint, Manhattan, and the steel Digester Eggs of NYC’s largest wastewater treatment facility) and extraordinary performance space. Inspired by this unique context and driven by the urgency to fight climate change, we offer outdoor & indoor public programming that unites music, dance, visual art, poetry & prose to harness the power of art to drive action around sustainability, migration, and diversity.
For more information, visit noosphere-arts.nyc/we-are-nature.
Artist Bio
Daniela Holban is a Romanian-born curator, cultural producer, community builder, and programs director with over 14 years of professional experience in art institutions, museums, and nonprofits. She specializes in curatorial direction, public programming, and creative strategy. Her curatorial practice seeks to respond to and present systems of self-reflection, identity, multipolarity, and sustainability. She is dedicated to public engagement, artist development, environmentally-based art programming, and action-driven communities. She currently holds the position of Director of Programs & Curation with NOoSPHERE Arts and is a Senior Curator at Artfare, Inc. In the past, she has worked with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MANA Contemporary, {CTS} Creative Thriftshop, William Bennet Gallery, The Ear Classical, and The Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Recognized for innovative project management, curation, cultural analysis & insight, she holds degrees in Business Marketing and Art History. Originally from Bucharest, Romania, she currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.