21
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 15–21, 2022
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
Ideal world
BY XIMENA DEL CERRO
In a utopic Brooklyn, housing
issues are resolved, climate impact
has been neutralized, everyone
came together as a community
after the COVID-19 pandemic
and art is everywhere. Those are
the most dominant ideals depicted
by more than 200 artists selected
for the latest Arts Gowanus exhibit
“Brooklyn Utopias: Along
the Canal,” which opened this
past weekend.
A curatorship of paintings,
drawings, photographs and sculptures
from local artists were unveiled
to the public with a two-day
party at its three viewing locations,
The Old Stone House, JJ Byrne
Playground and Coffey Park,
on April 9 and 10.
According to curator Katherine
Gressel, this year’s artistic
visions of “a better Brooklyn” include
various pieces on “the implications
of developing on this
very polluted land that’s undergoing
clean up.” In 2020, a cleanup of
toxic waste began at the Gowanus
Canal. It is a milestone for one of
the most polluted waterways in
America, and for the industrial
neighborhood. The project is expected
to eventually transform a
federally designated toxic Superfund
site into acres of parks, shops
and some 8,000 housing units.
The Brooklyn Utopias series
Performers wear plastic bags to draw attention to pollution and waste as part of the Arts Gowanus’ “Brooklyn Utopias”
exhibit. This year’s collection examines life along the Gowanus Canal. Photo by Robin Michals, inset courtesy of Arts Gowanus
has been around since 2009. The
concept, surged during the economic
recession as Brooklyn
started to become increasingly
popular among artists and young
New York residents and developers
simultaneously.
“I noticed a lot of artists were
responding to that in their work
and I wanted to bring them all
together,” said Gressel. “There’s
still a lot of competing attitudes
out there, about what would really
make the ideal Brooklyn. So,
this is a really important time to
address how can we make it more
equitable and inclusive and the
global implications of the rezoning
happening in Gowanus.”
This year’s art collection is a
refl exion of the rezoning order
that passed last November, said
Arts Gowanus program Director,
Johnny Thornton. Activists oppose
the rezoning, claiming the
area is an environmental hazard
and the proximity to the canal
makes the neighborhood especially
prone to fl ooding.
For artist Jeremy Dennis, the
inspiration of his submission — a
photo of an abandoned and vandalized
building surrounded by
cargo trucks — came from a utopia
in the past.
“We kept the indigenous name
of the place,” he said. “What must
have been a beautiful natural
landscape is still remembered
even though there is so much
change. Gowanus still exists.”
Dennis says the true defi nition
of a utopia is somewhere where everyone
has a voice, a place of arts,
museums, politics, and wherever
there is learning.
“Brooklyn Utopias: Along the
Canal” is on view through June 26
with indoors at Old Stone House
and outdoors at JJ Byrne Playground
and Coffey Park.
Local artists project
their vision of
‘Brooklyn Utopias’
across Gowanus