On July 8th, Underwater New York hosted an evening of poetry and performance at Observatory, the Brooklyn art space attached to Proteus Gowanus. Visitors were free to peruse the exhibition Transport III with Underwater New York and listened to a reading by the extraordinary poet Alex Dimitrov, a dramatic reading of the outrageous 1886 New York Times article entitled "A Barren Island Mystery: An Amateur Photographer's Peril--Was it an Attempt at Murder? " by actor Mark Emerson Smith, and underwater-y selections from the adjacent Reanimation Library.
With a line-up almost too good to be true, Underwater New York presented a reading at Bryant Park's Word for Word series on June 30th, 2010.
Readers included Jennifer Egan, Said Sayrafiezadeh, Ed Park, Deb Olin Unferth and Nelly Reifler. If that wasn't enough, Ben Greenman presented a letter-writing activity to the audience and Michael Hearst played some songs for underwater animals. Ed Park cracked a joke about Bryant Park being named after his grandfather and Michael's thermin drew curious stares from across the park. The event was absolutely amazing, and luckily Stacey Szewczyk, a journalist and multimedia producer and the mind behind Hudson River Stories, an excellent blog “dedicated to the stories that flow from the Hudson River and the New Yorkers who draw sustenance and inspiration from it,” was there to film it.
Underwater New York was thrilled to co-curate Brooklyn gallery Proteus Gowanus‘s summer 2010 show, the last installment in their year-long series around the theme of Transport–an exploration of How We Get There in our never-ending journey towards our destinations. Transport III with Underwater New York was on view from June 12th to July 17th, 2010, and featured work ranging from paintings to letterpress prints to artist books to photographs to installations and more, all inspired by objects found in the waterways of NYC. Pictured above are our artworks, artifacts, stories in bottles and more as they were installed.
Robert Lopez, Nicki Pombier Berger, Rebecca Resnick and Elizabeth Gaffney read at KGB Bar on May 14, 2010.
Here’s a teaser from Metropolis, Elizabeth Gaffney’s novel featuring such historical underwater escapades as exploding caissons in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Westfield ferry disaster …
From Metropolis:
Then a second boom echoed through the great chamber below thee bottom of the river and there came a roaring and a rush of air and water. All three lamps and candles went dark, and a flood of river and mud swept Harris off his feet and sucked him under …
Photo by Adrian Kinloch
On March 20, Underwater New York led a group of curious folks to what is fast becoming one of our favorite places in all of New York. For the first ever Obscura Day, a day of coordinated excursions to unusual sites around the world, we ventured back to Dead Horse Bay, once-home to such UNY celebrities as Kangamouse, Partial Mermaid and the rest of the gang from our team up with Significant Objects earlier this year. For this trip, we dug a little deeper into the history of what was once Barren Island, and discovered a place with a tantalizing past that goes beyond its history as the city’s dumping grounds … We’re sure to return again to this living unofficial archaeological site to probe what remains of eras past and see what stories might surface. In the meantime, you can read more about Dead Horse Bay here, and here are a few choice New York Times headlines from the past 150 years to whet your appetite:
February 12, 1874: Invasion of Barren Island by United States Troops: Seizure of Forty-Five Barrels of Whiskey and the Destruction of 50,000 Gallons of Mash—a Brooklyn Politician Involved
July 29, 1886: A Barren Island Mystery: An Amateur Photographer’s Peril – Was It an Attempt To Murder?
August 6, 1897: Diptheria Is Prevalent: Throats of Nine-Tenths of Barren Island’s Population Wrapped with Salt Pork and Flannel
July 31, 1899: The Barren Island Nuisance: Bill to Prohibit Bone-Boiling and the Cremation of Garbage
November 28, 1905: Building Cut In Two to Save It From Sea: Barren Island’s Eastern End is Still Slipping Away
March 17, 1909: Hunt Wild Hogs on Barren Island: Sanitary Police Have Some Fine Sport and Settle the Ownership of Porkers: Women to the Rescue
May 18, 1913: Man is Shot in Riot on Barren Island: Mob of 500 Strikers Assails Strikebreakers Just Leaving Work
Feb. 6, 1916: Barren Island Furs Under Doctor’s Ban: Dr. Rogers Attributes the Death of a Baby to a Go-Cart Robe Made of Catskin
June 21, 1921: 2 Ships Afire at Barren Island: The Polar Bear and City of Omaha Ignited by Blaze on Shore of Jamaica Bay
August 6, 1921: Blimp on Rampage Chased By Airplane: Catapults Its Crew Into Barren Island Marsh and Sails Away Unpiloted
And check out the gallery of images submitted by photographer/artist Alexa Hoyer, Adrian Kinloch and other Obscura Day participants to see for yourself some of what was found this time around: