NOoSPHERE Arts presents WE ARE NATURE 2022: Patterns of Connection on September 2 & 24, 2022 at the NOoSPHERE Arts Stage Roof, NYC and Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages, Brooklyn. To join for September 2, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/we-are-nature-from-new-york-to-the-norwegian-woods-tickets-406838243137. For more information and to register for the free September events, visit noosphere-arts.nyc/we-are-nature.

 

The third iteration of the NOoSPHERE Arts annual rooftop series combines arts, environmental activism, and community building. Set in a surreally beautiful nature sanctuary sprouting on top of an ExxonMobil industrial plant on the bank of Superfund site Newton Creek, the recurring WE ARE NATURE Rooftop Series offers a combination of multiple art forms – dance, music, performance, visual art, poetry, prose and film – addressing humanity's place in the greater All with the aim of engaging a diverse audience in environmental efforts through art.

 

This summer, NOoSPHERE Arts is once again collaborating with internationally renowned ecoliteracy scholar, Dr. Fritjof Capra. NOoSPHERE Arts selected five crucial topics from Fritjof Capra's Patterns of Connection (2021) around which their artists will create new, site-specific works for one-of-a-kind urban wildlife arenas. Over these five public events, the live art pieces will be complemented with poetically presented fact-based input from Dr. Capra in the form of readings, virtual and/or in-person appearances. NOoSPHERE Arts hopes audiences walk away with the central message that we already have solutions we know will work. Rather than perpetuating the prevalent sense of doom—which only causes people to give up—NOoSPHERE Arts' multidisciplinary rooftop programming instills belief in personal agency and hope through collective action.

 

The Season began with:

 

WE ARE NATURE 1 | Water is Life on Saturday, May 28, 2022

Watch: vimeo.com/727159829

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

Watch: vimeo.com/725683435

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

Watch: vimeo.com/735826658

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.

 

UPCOMING:

 

WE ARE NATURE 5 | Gritt

Friday, September 2, 2022 (7:30-10:30PM)

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

Saturday, September 24, 2022 (6-10PM)

Site-specific dance curated by CreateART in collaboration with Singing Violinist Katy Gunn. Capra: Earth Ethics.Creekside Concert by Duo Lívia & Fred; Art Exhibit Repopulations: New Horizons curated by Daniela Holban.

 

WE ARE NATURE 7 | Repopulations

Friday, September 30, 2022 through mid-October

The 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 Bios

 

Ñukanchik Llakta Wawakuna is a group where we use the art of dance to educate by different branches as well as to strengthen our identity and most of all, the excellence of our first Andean immigrants' generation. Wawakuna ("children") not only focuses on the kids, but also educates the parents about their rights as immigrants and to remain proud of being campesinos (peasants) or indigenous. Wawakuna believes in the importance of preserving our cultural identity. Wawakuna uses the tool of art such as painting, writing, dancing and singing to express our emotions, express the injustices occurring in the community, build leadership for parents and kids, and applying it as part of healing.

 

Melvis Santa is a singer, composer, pianist, Afro Cuban dancer, actress, and educator who was born and raised in the heart of an eclectic neighborhood in Havana, being exposed to multicultural traditions early on. Since age 4 she participated every weekend in the art programs offered by Gran Teatro de La Habana, Teatro Bellas Artes, and El Musical, three legendary theaters located in her hometown. At 7 she started playing classical piano. Years later she graduated in Piano and Music Theory from the prestigious Amadeo Roldan Conservatory.

Melvis made a splash on the Cuban musical scene at the age of 14 when she founded the collective vocal group Sexto Sentido, a project that jazz great Chucho Valdés deemed as "the best Cuban vocal quartet of the past 30 years" in 2007. The ensemble won the first prize of the Jo-Jazz (Cuban Youth Jazz competition) in 2001. In 2010 Melvis spread her wings and appeared as one of the lead vocalists of Interactivo, a seminal fusion band in Cuba. Melvis debuted as a solo artist in 2012 with the recording of her album Santa Habana, which was nominated to The CUBADISCO Awards that same year. The New York Times defines her style as possessing 70`s soul underpinnings, yet belonging to the Afro Cuban musical traditions. As an actress, Melvis has starred in the feature film 7 days in Havana, which garnered worldwide critical acclaim, directed by Julio Medem, Benicio del Toro, among others. Based in New York since 2014, she continues to make a mark as a performer and educator teaching workshops at NYU, CUNY Graduate Center, The Spence School, Tulane University of New Orleans, as well as collaborating with different organizations such as Global Rhythms, teaching music, voice, and Afro diaspora dance for children and adults. Melvis is the creator of the Caribe Body Fitness (dance program) and the Afro Cuban Voice Therapy (music program).

 

CreateART is an artist-led multidisciplinary performance and residency platform connecting artists and audiences in diverse venues in NYC. We exist to offer visibility, support and amplification for the voices of emerging artists. CreateART hosts curated and works in progress performance events, each one unique and eclectic. CreateART events activate spaces, offer opportunities for exciting artistic encounters and advance a new way of community engagement in the arts. Venues and collaborators include Ace Hotel New York, Ace Hotel Brooklyn, Venn, NOoSPHERE Arts and Arts on Site. CreateART is fiscally sponsored by Unique Projects Inc, and has received funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council as a community grant recipient in 2019 and 2022.

 

Gjert Rognli is working as a multimedia artist, and has in recent years worked with his own short films, sculpture, photography and performance. He is Educated partly in multimedia and film, and has been represented by a number of film festivals and exhibitions in Norway and abroad. He has also received several awards for his art films and photographs, among other award honorable mentions from Photographer's Forum magazine in the United States. He comes from a sea-Sami village in northern Norway, and his photographs are staged in the region. In his work he uses the North Norwegian nature and his Sami identity to create new work coming through his dreams and reality.

 

Katy Gunn is an American songwriter, music producer, violinist, and performance artist. Katy's works span several genres including hip hop, soul, classical, electronica and trip-hop. Recent awards/collaborations include Best New Artistat the Copenhagen Songwriter Festival (2013) and a feature on a title track with MDOT and Method Man (Wu Tang Clan). Her electro-pop duo, Teenage Love, has been featured by Danish National Radio, NPR, GAFFA, and various tastemaker blogs internationally - both as a performing act and a producer of other up-and-coming acts in Denmark. Katy's solo musical works have been debuted by Last Frontier (NYC), Dixon Theatre (NYC), and featured by publications such as Paste Magazine and The Deli (NYC). As the in-house performer/composer at NOoSPHERE ARTS and a member of The Mothership art collective in Brooklyn, Katy's ties to the underground art scene in New York City provide a platform for her 'other life' as a composer/performance artist. Performing at exhibitions and events, Katy incorporates choreographed movement with music and audience interaction, emphasizing themes related to human connection and the female identity. Katy's solo release - Whispering Voices, was created for choreographed performance of her song compositions alongside interdisciplinary artist and performer, Autumn Kioti. Whispering Voices was composed as part of a multi-disciplinary group exhibition aiming to evoke our inner-connectedness as human beings, tapping into the elusive source that binds us all. All the samples used for this release were created by Katy's voice and hands, further manipulated via techniques in Ableton Live to create full song compositions. The release reflects an inner struggle for identity and meaning, with an emphasis on both the beauty and inner conflict of being human.

 

Lívia & Fred: From classic to contemporary, from popular to erudite, from Brazil and the world, and everything mixed together, this is the duo formed by Lívia Nestrovski (voice) and her husband Fred Ferreira (guitar). Together, they have shared the stage for 9 years, where they create "a human work, of beauty and delicacy, but above all, they tell stories in a very personal way" said Ronaldo Fraga (fashion designer) who, since 2016, designs clothes for them. After the release of the first album "Duo" (2012), between festivals and theaters, they have visited more than 16 countries, including USA, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Estonia, Colombia, Cuba Mexico , Argentina, Lebanon and even Syria, having been the first Brazilians to act in the country after the beginning of the conflicts. Considered by Polivox as a singer with a "luminous, overwhelming presence", whose voice is "one of the greatest achievements of contemporary Brazilian music", Lívia Nestrovski has enormous artistic versatility, having other albums edited, namely "Pós Você and Eu" (2016) and "Sarabanda" (2020), with her father - Arthur Nestrovski and "De Nada Mais a Algo Além" (2014) with Arrigo Barnabé and Luiz Arrigo who said "Youkali is one of the best interpretations I've ever heard in my life" - music on the album "Duo". Fred Ferreira, with two degrees in Composition and Guitarr, has been a professional guitarist since his adolescence. He also works as a music director, creator of soundtracks and instrumentalist, both in the classical and popular circles. With an average of 35 concerts per year, they present an unexpectedly balanced, subtle and welcoming sound. The chemistry they share and the "image they create on stage was beyond sound. It was a state of mind. It was like traveling, but without a ticket. " - Mihaela Barca, Jazzkaar 2016. In 2018, they did the closing concert at Navegar É Preciso Festival where writers, actors and musicians met for 5 days sailing the Rio Negro in the Amazon. They are now preparing the second album, where they get closer to the electronic world and the synthesized sounds, and try to create a place where it is possible to cross and be crossed through a continuous experience.

 

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.

 

Itonje Søimer Guttormsen (b. 1979) has a BA in film directing from The Norwegian Filmschool (2008), and a MFA in «Processes of filmmaking» at Academy Valand, Gothenburg (2017). Before film school she worked on a large number of Norwegian film productions as director assistant, production leader, researcher etc, alongside subjects in philosophy, theater, theology and art at the University of Oslo. Itonje produce her film- and art projects on Andropia, and is the founder of ByFlimmer – a site specific filmart festival, and of KORET, a 50 piece Oslo choir. She is connected to the film platform Wuxia as event maker. In 2015 Itonje premiered the ritual performance EDEN, Oslo – en konfirmasjon where 11 females made their confirmation in Lilith – Adams ousted first wife. In 2016 she released the mid length film Retrett, starring Birgitte Larsen as the struggling movement artist Gritt. Retrett collected several awards and had it's international release at International Film Festival Rotterdam January 2017, and was awarded Best Short Film at Riga International Filmfestival in October 2017. In November 2017 Itonje had a solo exhibition Lilithistic Revelation at Fotogalleriet in Oslo. "The Lilithist" also appeared in the exhibition "Tro, håp og kjærlighet?" at Akershus Art Center in 2020. Itonje is currently releasing her debut feature GRITT. The film follows the title character a year after Retrett, as she embarks on a journey to manifest her ritual performance "The white Inflammation", from New York, to Oslo, to the Norwegian woods. GRITT is produced by Maria Ekerhovd of MER FILM, with Andropia as co-producer. GRITT premiered at Tromsø International Filmfestival in January 2021 and will have it's international premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam in February, in the Tiger Award competition, before traveling to Gothenburg for the Dragon Award Best Nordic film competition at GIFF. GRITT will enter Norwegian cinemas by Easter 2021.

 

Fritjof Capra, Ph.D., is a scientist, educator, activist, and author of many international bestsellers that connect conceptual changes in science with broader changes in worldview and values in society. A Vienna-born physicist and systems theorist, Capra first became popularly known for his book, The Tao of Physics, which explored the ways in which modern physics was changing our worldview from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological one. Published in 1975, it is still in print in more than 40 editions worldwide and is referenced with the statue of Shiva in the courtyard of one of the world's largest and most respected centers for scientific research: CERN, the Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva. Over the past 30 years, Capra has been engaged in a systematic exploration of how other sciences and society are ushering in a similar shift in worldview, or paradigms, leading to a new vision of reality and a new understanding of the social implications of this cultural transformation. His most recent book, The Systems View of Life (Cambridge University Press, 2014), presents a grand new synthesis of this work—integrating the biological, cognitive, social, and ecological dimensions of life into one unified vision. Several critics have suggested that The Systems View of Life, which Capra coauthored with Pier Luigi Luisi, Professor of Biology at the University of Rome, is destined to become another classic. Capra is a founding director of the Berkeley-based Center for Ecoliteracy, which is dedicated to advancing ecology and systems thinking in primary and secondary education, and serves on the faculty of the Amana-Key executive education program in São Paulo, Brazil. He is a Fellow of Schumacher College, an international center for ecological studies in the UK, and serves on the Council of the Earth Charter Initiative. He is the author of The Turning Point (1982), The Web of Life (1996), The Hidden Connections (2002), The Science of Leonardo (2007), and Learning from Leonardo (2013). He coauthored Green Politics (1984), Belonging to the Universe (1991), and EcoManagement (1993), and coedited Steering Business Toward Sustainability (1995). He also cowrote the screenplay for Mindwalk (1990), a film starring Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, and John Heard, created and directed by Bernt Capra. The main focus of Capra's environmental education and activism has been to help build and nurture sustainable communities. He believes that to do so, we can learn valuable lessons from the study of ecosystems, which are sustainable communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms.

 

Brazilian Sabrina Barrios finished her BFA in Graphic Design (UFSM, 2004) before relocating to London, São Paulo and Berlin. In 2009 she moved to New York to complete her MFA at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute (2012). Recent exhibitions include immersive experiences such as Frequency of the Invisible–part 1 (MASM Santa Maria Museum of Art, Brazil, 2019); Frequency of the Invisible–part 2 (BienalSur, Brazil, 2019); Beam (Casa Amarela, Brazil, 2018); Epic of Creation (Arteles, Finland, 2017); The Earth Experiment (No4 Studio, Brooklyn, 2017); Ley Lines (Wassaic Project, NY, 2017); Coup D'etat: How They Did It; and Coup D'etat: How To Resist (Wassaic Project; and Staten Island Cultural Center, NY, 2016); The Horse Rider and The Eagle (Bains Connective, Belgium, 2016); Atlantis (Aabenraa Biennial for Contemporary Art, Denmark, 2015); Zero (Laboratory, WA, 2015); Orion and Vega (Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn, 2014); and Degrees of Freedom (Harlem Art Factory Fest, NY, 2013). She has exhibited her paintings at JustMAD Art Fair (Spain, 2016); and Anita Schwartz Gallery (Brazil, 2014 and 2015); videos at Bienal Desde Aquí (Colombia, 2015); and at the MoMA: Abstract Currents (NY, 2013). Residencies/fellowships include The Studios at MASS MoCA (MA, 2017); Arteles (Finland, 2017); The Bronx Museum–The Artist in the Marketplace (NY, 2016); Just Residence–Banco Santander Foundation (Malaga–Madrid, 2016); Bains Connective (Brussels, 2016); and The Wassaic Project (NY, 2015). Sabrina's work has been included in The Fourth Bronx Museum Biennial in New York (2017); and in the Baku Biennale in Azerbaijan (2019). The artist currently lives between Brooklyn and Rio de Janeiro, using art as an instrument for dialogue, resistance and political change.

 

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.