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Kitty City

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Image by Shona Masarin

A team of kids, artists, and city planners are designing and building a thriving meowtropolis: Kitty City

Ribbon cutting ceremony, kitten adoption drive, and closing celebration: June 1 2013, noon – 6pm

Kitty City is an inter-generational experiment in collaboration and pedagogy, designed to encourage shared decision-making power and challenge the way we think about the urban environment.

During four workshops in May, we will design buildings, thoroughfares, and other urban elements to meet our strict zoning standards for living the good life. We’ll plan parks; devise water, transportation, and sanitation systems; map out housing options, commercial and cultural districts; and be sure there’s plenty fresh and healthy food. After our shared vision is approved by committees and review boards, we’ll build Kitty City in the Flux Gallery. On June 1st, we’ll flood Kitty City with kittens during a ribbon cutting ceremony that will double as an adoption drive.

If you are a student who would like to help build Kitty City, please contact Doug – doug[at]fluxfactory.org. Workshops will be three hours on every Saturday in May.

The humans behind Kitty City:
[EXPAND Douglas Paulson] Douglas is an artist and educator who works with Flux Factory, The Center for Urban Pedagogy, and MoMA’s Teen program. He grew up with a house full of cats. [/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Elizabeth Hamby]
Elizabeth is an artist and an educator who works between the studio, the classroom, and the city. She is a member of Meta Local Collaborative in the Bronx, and the Neighborhood Explorers Coordinator at the Museum of the City of New York. She lives and works in the Bronx with her cat, Tito Gatito.[/EXPAND]

[EXPAND James Wang]
James is an artist and tinkerer who once thought he was a dog person, but now considers himself a cat person. He lives and works in New York City with his partner and their two cats. [/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Leah Wolff]
Leah is a visual artist and educator who works with MoMA’s Teen program and Trevor Day School’s Art Department. Her most recent solo show was at Scaramouche NY. She just adopted the world’s most adorable puppy, Shadow.  [/EXPAND]

[EXPAND James Rojas]
James is an urban planner/ artist. MIT Graduate that uses sensory experiences to engage, educate, and empower youth, immigrants and women in the urban planning process.  [/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Deborah Helaine Morris]
Deborah is an urban planner who works with city agencies, community groups, and non-profits on public process and economic development issues. She is a cat lover and is on a first name basis with all of her neighborhood’s shop cats.[/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Jennifer Hsu]
Jennifer is an artist and teacher who works with Marymount Manhattan College and Peg Alston Fine Arts. With her background in philosophy and admiration of felines, she cares deeply about human-animal relations.[/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Moira Williams]
Moira cares about nature and works with communities to encourage others to understand, engage and appreciate their own urban environment. She leads educational workshops; Soil Kitchen, Mushroom Basket A Go-Go, and Name That Cat!  Moira is a Co-founder of the Walk Exchange, certified in Trap and Release (TNR), takes care of several feral cat colonies, and her own rescue kitties claim that she is a cat whisperer.[/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Sofy Yuditskaya]
Sofy is a media artist and designer working in whatever she can get away with. Her work ranges from street performance to techno-ocult rituals and hacktivism. She has worked on projects at the Eyebeam Center for Art & Technology, the ARS Electronica Center, the Netherlands Institute voor Media Kunst, and the Games for Learning Institute. [/EXPAND]

[EXPAND Christina Vassallo]

Christina, the Executive Director of Flux Factory, is really a dog person. She owns Truman, the unofficial mascot of Flux Factory, who is a dog.  That said, she believes in the experimental pedagogical nature of this project, and pushes paper to make it happen…but refuses to scoop the poop.[/EXPAND]

Flux Factory is excited to partner with For Animals, Inc., who will provide Kitty City with its inhabitants, and host the adoption event at Kitty City on June 1st. For Animals, a no-kill animal shelter in South Ozone Park, New York, is dedicated to eliminating companion animal homelessness, engaging our larger community as vital and active participants in this shared social and ethical responsibility, and providing that community with the resources and education necessary to achieve these goals together.

For Animals, Inc. is able to offer adoptions free-of-charge, through their participation in the fourth Maddie’s Pet Adoption Days, sponsored by the Alameda, CA-based Maddie’s Fund. There will be no lag time in the adoption process and new owners can leave with their Kitty citizen on the same day.

We’ll also be joined during the adoption drive by Neighborhood Cats, whose mission is to reduce feral cat overpopulation and improve quality of life for free-roaming cats using the method known as Trap-Neuter-Return. At Kitty City they will be ready to talk to visitors about their work in NYC and beyond, explaining how TNR is the best and most effective solution for cats and communities.

Logos-Strip-shows_Kitty-City-300x69

This exhibition is supported, in part, by National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

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