Check out this free water art exhibit – NBC New York

New York has some of the best drinking water in the country and that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

As climate change and public policy make the necessary substance scarce in some parts of the country and the world, local scientists and artists have partnered for the “Water Stories” exhibit at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to raise awareness of the vital work that is being done around New York City to keep our water accessible to everyone.

Located beneath a laboratory where the Interstate Environmental Commission (IEC) monitors the quality of local waterfronts, the free, interactive installation at BioBAT Art Space features artwork that aims to communicate the research being conducted at the city-owned building through of the universal language of art.

“This is our way of sharing with the public the important work they are doing,” said co-founder and curator Elena Soterakis as she took NBC New York on a tour of the space. “It’s really just a group of artists responding to the seafront in my own different way, from the super scientific to the more spiritual to the more poetic.”

The exhibition is free to the public, but only opens on Saturdays, from 12pm to 5pm. But as part of Open House New York, it will be open October 19-20 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The exhibition presents a variety of works that in some way involve the water of our region in the creation process. An installation by resident artist Yoko Shimizu was inspired by samples obtained during a water collection trip with IEC scientists.

Installation by Yoko Shimizu at BioBAT Art Space.

The circular images showing the locations where the samples were collected function as records, and the inner circles—which represent data collected at those locations in Petri dishes—are sonified in a small music box.

Another installation that leaned into the more spiritual aspect of water is “Water the Sounds” by Ranjit Bhatnagar and Anne Hollænder. The piece allows viewers to pour seawater into a bowl, which activates analogue instruments, as well as the haunting audio of Hollænder singing to the crowd during the exhibition opening.

Soterakis best described the installation as “having a soul of its own.”

Interstate Environmental Commission Executive Director Evelyn Powers pours water into the bowl.

An artist took a scientific and poetic approach to her work, using real algae collected on her travels with IEC scientists. Founded in 1936, before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the tri-state agency has been at the forefront of protecting and advocating for the health of the states’ shared waterways through collaborative water quality monitoring projects.

Yan Shao told NBC New York that he was inspired by the diversity of organisms, which range from single-celled forms at the bottom of the food chain to large algae that serve as habitats for other life forms, and their ancient role in our ecological system. Algae also provide oxygen to other aquatic life and produce 70% of Earth’s oxygen.

Shao’s piece, “Algae Chorus,” gave voice to the little beings in containers of clear water that you would find in a house – leaving the audience to reflect on their carbon-producing existence and our dependence on their photosynthesis process.