Weedy Nomad: A Walking Tour of LIC’s Forgotten Landscapes
May 27, 2 – 3pm
Part of the Wilder LIC Group Exhibition
Tour commences at the Windmill Community Garden, 39-22 29th Street in Long Island City

Join artists Thomas Choinacky and Christopher Kennedy for a walking tour of Long Island City’s overlooked green spaces and marginal ecologies. Starting at the Windmill Community Garden, we’ll begin to observe, engage with, and map nearby vacant lots, tree pits, sidewalk cracks and highway medians. Together we’ll learn how to identify a range of spontaneous urban plants (aka weeds) and experiment with forms of movement and dance to engage with each weedy space and territory. Along the way we’ll also consider how the language we use to classify these organisms as “exotic” and “alien” has troubling parallels to policies and practices used to marginalize immigrant communities. Despite their status as invasive or dangerous, these plants have immense value and can teach us about climate change adaptation and how to survive NYC’s harsh urban conditions. By the end of the workshop we hope to develop ideas for how to map multispecies life in LIC, and a new understanding of what constitutes a so-called green space or landscape in NYC.

The workshop is open to all, no prior knowledge needed! We encourage you to wear clothing you can move in, and don’t mind getting a little dirty.

Please RSVP at this link if you like, a suggested donation is appreciated but not required.