Obscura Day 2015 at Dead Horse Bay
Obscura Day 2015 at Dead Horse Bay

For the fourth year, Underwater New York participated in Atlas Obscura's Obscura Day, an international day of exploration. Team UNY met up with a group of adventurous New Yorkers in a Floyd Bennett Field parking lot, then set out across a picturesque path through high grasses and dunes, eventually emerging on Dead Horse Bay. After sharing a brief history of the place, which was once known as Barren Island, as well as several archival photographs culled from the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library's amazing digitized archives, the group dispersed across the bottle, glass and horse bone-littered shores. Here are a few photographs of the day!


Nicole HaroutunianObscura Day 2015, Dead Horse Bay
Dead Horse Bay at Winter Shack
Dead Horse Bay at Winter Shack

Photos from Underwater New York at Winter Shack + audio from Dead Horse Bay

Photo by Adel Souto

Photo by Adel Souto

Saturday, January 24th, 7pm

Classon Ful-Gate Community Garden

Closest subways: C to Franklin Ave or G to Classon Ave. 

Underwater New York curates an evening of work inspired by Dead Horse Bay, including new fiction from UNY editors Nicole Haroutunian and Nicki Pombier Berger, a dramatic reading of the outrageous 1886 New York Times article, "A Barren Island Mystery," performed by actor David Townsend, and a participatory literary activity involving horse bones, doll parts, and other evocative flotsam from the shores of Dead Horse Bay. 

David Townsend, a self-proclaimed "huge NYC history nerd," is an actor whose television credits include: The Knick (upcoming), Gotham (FOX), Unforgettable (CBS), and Boardwalk Empire (HBO). Select theater credits include last season's The Library at the Public Theater, A Midsummer Night's Dream at Syracuse Stage, and Frost/Nixon with Portland Center Stage. 

Winter Shack is a temporary exhibition space designed by Alex Branch and Nicole Antebi, who curate a series of site-specific installations/readings/exhibitions that encourage audiences to engage with one another's work and to build community in the darkest hours of the year. In 2015, Winter Shack is partnering with The Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust at the Classon Ful-gate Community Garden, located on the edge of Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill. Originally established forty four years ago and maintained by many of its original members, the block association has generously invited the Winter Shack to activate the space during the winter months when the garden lies dormant. 

UNY is pleased to curate one event in a series of compelling work, including the work of artist Lauren Canon, who will be converting the Shack into a CineSauna (cinematic sauna), screenings of short works by video artists during the month of February, a reading series curated by writer Allison Devers, and the conversion of the shack into a reparative refuge for seasonal affective disorder.

Nicole Haroutunian
UNY 5th Anniversary Celebration and Benefit
UNY 5th Anniversary Celebration and Benefit

Photos by Nate Dorr

On the perfectly watery evening of October 15, 2014, over one hundred guests came together at Dumbo Sky to help us celebrate five years of Underwater New York. We were thrilled to see all of your beautiful faces there!

It was a fantastic evening during which we screened two short films created for the celebration: an animation, Riparianism, by Nicole Antebi about the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek and a documentary short, Submerged, by Charis Emily Shafer about a Sheepshead Bay couple in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Guests also used custom viewmasters to click through a selection of once-underwater objects from the collection of Staten Island diver-extraordinaire Ed Fanuzzi. Dan Selzer provided a nautical playlist. 

All guests received an UNY tote bag and a print by one of our contributing artists--Isaac Kestenbaum, Melissa Murray, Elizabeth Hamby and Erika Vala--and bid in a silent auction to take home the original artwork, as well as a letterpress print by Nick Hurd from Wasp Print and a digital print by Adrian Kinloch, a six-week course at the Sackett Street Writers Workshop, a terrarium from Twig, and tours from the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Oyster City. Raffle prizes included a pie from Four & Twenty Blackbirds, a cookbook from Saltie, a book and albums from Michael Hearst and One Ring Zero, gift certificates from Artist & Craftsman Supply and a dinner for two at Luke's Lobster. Guests who purchased premium tote bags also received books and CDs by Amy Shearn, Julia Fierro, Ben Greenman, Gabriel Brownstein and Michael Hearst, chocolate from Mast Brothers and Narwhal beers. 

Delicious craft beer and nautical drinks were provided courtesy of The Gate, Coney Island Brewery, Van Brunt Stillhouse, Waterfront Wines & Spirits, and Red White & Bubbly. Snacks were donated by Saltie and Coffeed and the evening's centerpiece was a boat of oysters shucked on the spot, courtesy of Island Creek Oysters. The event was staffed by a great team of volunteers, many of whom are also UNY contributing writers and artists: Kate Overgaard and Maya Edelman at the bar, Dan Arlein and Rose Nestler at the door, and photography by Nate Dorr. 

Proceeds from ticket sales went to offset the costs of running UNY and to develop future programming.

We were absolutely blown away by the support, enthusiasm and success of the event and can't wait to see what the next five years brings! Thank you!

​

Nicole Haroutunian
Waterfronts: From NYC to LA
Waterfronts: From NYC to LA

Pacific Standard / 82 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY / July 7th / 7pm

For the first six months of 2014, Underwater New York and Trop cross-published Waterfronts, a bi-weekly series of personal essays engaging with the waterways of New York City and Los Angeles. We were thrilled to co-host a reading to celebrate the culmination of the collaboration at Pacific Standard on July 7th, 2014. Steve Mentz, Betsy Bradley, Lisa Kunik, Jess Pastore, Erin Baer and Nicole Haroutunian read their short essays. Pacific Standard represented the LA coast and ordered nautical Heavy Seas beer for the occasion! A full house came out to support the readers, including many UNY contributors. We want to thank our new friends at Trop, Alyssa Vine, Evan Allgood and Tom Dibblee for making the collaboration so successful. Here are a few photos from the event!


Nicole HaroutunianWaterfronts, Jess Pastore, Erin Baer, Nicole Haroutunian, Steve Mentz, Betsy Bradley, Lisa Kunik, Reading
UNY at The Social Hall: An Oral History Exhibit
UNY at The Social Hall: An Oral History Exhibit

We are pleased to invite you to "The Social Hall: An Oral History Exhibit" at Columbia University, where graduate student Margaret Argiro will present Scrap Dive, the culmination of her oral history work in partnership with Underwater New York. Scrap Dive introduces us to the incomparable Ed Fanuzzi, a Staten Island native who has been diving the waters around New York City since he made his first diving helmet at age 11. Curating objects and images from his personal collection, and audio and text from oral history interviews, Scrap Dive invites you to explore the storied waters of Ed's life. Come dive in - you're sure to find gold.   

The Social Hall: An Oral History Exhibit  

WHEN: Thursday, May 1, from 5:00 - 8:00 pm

WHERE: Social Hall, Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway (at 121st Street)

Nicole HaroutunianMargaret Argiro, Ed Fanuzzi, Staten Island, Oral History, Scrap Dive