The Climate Museum and the NYC Mayor’s Office - Climate Policy and Programs Present
Climate Signals, five-borough public art installation by Justin Brice Guariglia
September 1—November 6, 2018
Climate Museum Hub on Governors Island
September 21—October 31, 2018
Climate Signals rendering at Governors Island exhibition site, facing north toward Lower Manhattan
August 30, 2018, New York—As reported earlier today in The New York Times, this fall, prominent, unexpected messages about climate change will dot the New York City landscape, sparking curiosity and raising awareness. The Climate Museum, in partnership with the NYC Mayor’s Office - Climate Policy and Programs, will present Climate Signals, a multi-site outdoor installation by Justin Brice Guariglia.
The exhibition consists of ten large (11’ x 7’), solar-powered highway signs with phrases that draw passers-by into the climate conversation. The signs will appear in parks across the city in a range of neighborhoods, including some of those most vulnerable to climate change, and will flash translations into several of the many languages of NYC: Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. (Sites listed below.)
This fall programming is made possible by a range of collaborations that appropriately represent the partnership and joint action needed to tackle climate change. Co-presenting partners the NYC Mayor’s Office (Climate Signals) and Governors Island (the Climate Museum hub) are joined by major partner NYC Parks and by partners Hudson River Park Trust, Snug Harbor Cultural center and Botanical Garden, and Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy. Fifteen additional citywide partners will co-host a broad range of programming related to the exhibition and to moving forward together on the climate challenge.
These events include a Climate Justice teach-in in Sunset Park; an Ask-A-Scientist Day organized by the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia's Earth Institute/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; the co-creation of a mural by the members of YUCA, a youth arts organization in the South Bronx and artist Patrícia Melodia Lewis; and a K-12 teacher training at the New York Hall of Science. On September 22, the Climate Museum will also participate in Hudson River Park's SUBMERGE NYC, the annual marine science festival presented by HRPK's Estuary Lab and dozens of science partners. Further details on all programming are available here. (Partners listed below.)
On weekends, the signs will be staffed by volunteers, including community residents, members of the Climate Museum Youth Advisory Council, and NYC employees.
Rendering of the interactive room at the Climate Museum hub
The Climate Museum hub at Governors Island’s Admiral’s House—the Museum’s first temporary space—will include an interactive feature allowing visitors to create and photograph their own climate ‘signals,’ large-scale portraits of New Yorkers who are making a difference on climate, and more.
Both Climate Signals and the Climate Museum hub will be celebrated at an opening reception at the Admiral’s House on Governors Island the evening of September 21.
“Climate change is the most important issue in human history, and paradoxically difficult for us to communicate,” said Guariglia. “The idea for the signs was to use a medium that suggested urgency (the highway message sign), and a language that is accessible to everyone, to raise awareness around these urgent, existential issues. My hope is for this artwork to generate conversations that will inspire social and political change.”
In 2016, Guariglia became the first artist to fly on earth science missions with NASA. His solo show Earth Works: Mapping the Anthropocene, which received an NEA grant, will open in September at the Fisher Museum of Art at USC in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. His work is currently on display in Storm King Art Center’s climate-focused show Indicators: Artists on Climate Change. Guariglia is a Howard Foundation Fellow at Brown University and an Artist-in-Residence at the Anchorage Museum and Woods Hole Research Center.
“Justin’s work will help build the climate conversation across New York City this fall ,” said Miranda Massie, Director of the Climate Museum. “We are delighted to be presenting it and to be working with so many extraordinary partners, including the NYC Mayor’s Office, NYC Parks, the Trust for Governors Island, and more than a dozen community justice and cultural organizations in all five boroughs.”
“Climate change is one of New York City’s greatest challenges and requires creative approaches to educate and engage all of us about its risks and solutions. Art can play a valuable role in this effort,” said Daniel Zarrilli, NYC’s Senior Director of Climate Policy and Programs and Chief Resilience Officer. “We are thrilled to partner with the Climate Museum on Climate Signals to demonstrate the role of art in helping to bring more New Yorkers into the conversation and promote the importance of climate action by New York City on a global stage.”
"Governors Island is positioned in New York Harbor between many of our city's neighborhoods dealing first-hand with the damaging effects of climate change,” said Michael Samuelian, President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island. “As an increasingly popular urban destination with a resilient new park, diverse programming, and an engaged audience we have a unique opportunity to help visitors learn about our changing climate. We’re thrilled to host the Climate Museum on Governors Island this fall and encourage visitors to explore this important work and encourage further discussion on this most important issue.”
Sites and Partners
Manhattan sites: Hudson River Park Pier 84, St. Nicholas Park
Manhattan partners: Harlem Grown, Hudson River Park Trust, WE ACT
Bronx sites: St. Mary’s Park, Hunts Point Riverside Park
Bronx partners: Bronx Documentary Center, Bronx River Alliance, DreamYard, Green Bronx Machine, The POINT, YUCA Arts
Queens sites: Flushing Meadows–Corona Park; Rockaway Beach Boardwalk
Queens partners: Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy, Queens Museum, New York Hall of Science
Brooklyn site: Sunset Park
Staten Island site: Snug Harbor
Staten Island partner: Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden
Governors Island sites: Castle Williams, Yankee Pier
Governors Island partner: Trust for Governors Island
Additional citywide partners: Earth Institute, NYC Climate Action Alliance, Urban Climate Change Research Network
About the New York City Mayor’s Office - Climate Policy and Programs: New York City, under Mayor de Blasio’s leadership, continues to lead the globe in the fight against climate change. The NYC Mayor’s Office Climate Policy and Programs team leads NYC’s fight against climate change and manages the #OneNYC program for inclusive growth and climate action. NYC was the first city to align itself with the 1.5 Celsius target of the Paris Agreement and is investing over $20 billion to increase resiliency by adapting neighborhoods to climate change risks. At the same time, NYC is holding fossil fuel companies accountable by divesting the City’s pension funds from fossil fuels and suing the five investor-owned fossil fuel companies most responsible for climate change.
About the Climate Museum: The Climate Museum is creating the first U.S. center for cultural engagement with climate change, drawing us together around the social justice, public health, and urban design challenges and opportunities we face. Its mission is to mobilize museum programming across the arts and sciences for broad community engagement with climate. The Museum will open a dedicated lab space in 2020 and a permanent home thereafter. Climate Signals is its second exhibition.
www1.nyc.gov/site/cpp/index.page
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