The Cooper Hewitt + Cube Museum 2019 Design Triennial: NATURE

Fantasma by AnotherFarm: transgenic silk (injected with coral DNA to glow red) dresses

As per the website:

With projects ranging from experimental prototypes to consumer products, immersive installations, and architectural constructions, Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, co-organized with Cube design museum, presents the work of sixty-two international design teams. Collaborations involve scientists, engineers, advocates for social and environmental justice, artists, and philosophers. They are engaging with nature in innovative and ground-breaking ways, driven by a profound awareness of climate change and ecological crises as much as advances in science and technology.

Tree of 40 Fruit by Sam Van Aken: using centuries old grafting techniques, 40 varietals are incorporated into one living tree

Choreography of Life by Charles Reilly: depicts ATP synthase harvesting the metabolic energy stored in ATP bonds

Bioreceptive Concrete Panels by Marcos Cruz, Richard Beckett, Javier Ruiz, Nina Jotanovic, Anete Salman, Manja van de Worp: a natural method of fighting air pollution

Cillia coat by Jifei Ou, Hiroshi Ishii, Fabian Neumann, Sen Dai: 3D printed hairlike structures on the coat can be programmed to provide warmth, act as sensors or aid movement

Bamboo Theatre by Xu Tiantian: with a little help from an architect, local Chinese bamboo basketmaking knowhow helps villagers build stable architectural structures for community gatherings

A World of Sand by AtelierNL: a sentimental statement about teamwork and diversity?

AIR (Avoid-Intercept-Redesign) sneaker prototype for Adidas by Parley for the Oceans: running shoes made entirely of marine plastic waste

3D-Painted Hyperelastic Bone by Adam E. Jakus and Ramille Shah: hydroxyapatite (a form of calcium found in bones) makes these implants porous, flexible, strong and recognized by the body like real bones, aiding faster bone regeneration and tissue integration with low or no immune response

The Substitute by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg: CGI animation and DeepMind behavioral software is used to recreate the extinct male northern white rhino

Project Coelicolor by Natsai Audrey Chieza: Textiles dyed with pigment producing bacteria eiiminate water waste and pollution from the process. Colors are controlled by pH, oxygen exposure and time.

Bleached (II) by Erez Navi Pana: this salt-crystallized loofah and wood stool symbolizes changing human perception of natural commodities.

Cisterns by Hiroshi Sambuichi: displayed in old city cisterns around the world, this installation transposes the experience of visiting the Itsukushima Shrine (in Miyajima, Japan) onto local environments

Biocement Masonry by Ginger Krieg Dosier: made of mixed sand, nutrients and microorganisms, these bricks are as strong as standard bricks and are grown and dried in molds, eliminating high carbon emissions typical of the standard firing process.

Warka Water Tower by Arturo Vittori: collects potable water from dew, fog and rain

Aguahoja II by Neri Oxman: made of biocomposite materials made from shrimp shells and fallen leaves, these “skin and shell” structures can be 3D printed and programmed with different mechanical, optical and olfactory properties, including timed decomposition.

Curiosity Cloud by Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler: hand fabricated replicas of different insects that would not be found together in nature are united, and triggered to flutter by human movement

Made by Rain by Aliki van der Kruijs: textiles dyed by rain interacting with their ink are “fingerprints'“ of location, date, time interval, and millimeters of rainfall

After Ancient Sunlight by Charlotte McCurdy: this petroleum free algae-based plastic raincoat is manufactured in a manner that metabolizes atmospheric carbon rather than emitting it

Personal Food Computer by Daniel Poitrast and the OpenAg team at MIT: a tabletop sized, robot monitored chamber creates environmental conditions yielding desired phenotypic expressions from plants

Visualizing the Cosmic Web by Kim Albrecht: how are galaxies in our universe related? mapping their connections with different models helps us better understand the history of our universe, or potential multiverse

Monarch Sanctuary by Mitchell Joachim and Vivian Kuan: a vertical meadow with glass facade and carefully temperature and humidity controlled interior helps replete dwindling Monarch butterfly populations

I hope against hope that some of these carbon negative and pollution upcycling technologies become standard before we ruin Earth’s habitability.

Old, Old Houses in New York City: Dyckman Farmhouse, Sylvan Terrace, Morris-Jumel Mansion & Hamilton Grange

A sunny day in Morningside Park, very much engineered to look like a Hudson River School painting

I love visiting historic houses. I find them inspirational from an interior decorating point of view, but also love soaking up their vibes . . . I don’t feel voyeuristic, I feel right at home!

Dyckman Farmhouse, built 1784

Recently, I’ve gotten a couple Inwood listings (for those of you who don’t know . . . my day job for the past 8 years is as a professional real estate agent, a perfect match for me as a native New Yorker) and so have been traveling quite a bit up and down the west side. It is time consuming to get to these neighborhoods, so I thought I would fold in visits to uptown sights I’d always meant to see . . . . but hadn’t.

First up, the Dyckman Farmhouse between 204th and 207th streets on Broadway. This is a Dutch Colonial style farmhouse continuously occupied by one family and donated to the city as a museum in the 1910s. The sisters decorated it in an early 19th century fashion, as they remember their grandparents keeping it.

It’s two floors and a cellar. The cellar is, of course, the kitchen; the first floor is the main entertaining space and upstairs are bedrooms. In undecorated rooms throughout there are vitrines of colonial artifacts that were either donated or unearthed in the vicinity. One silly touch is that many of the items are labeled with their name in Dutch (it’s not a stole, it’s a stoel!)

Out back, dug into the hill, is a Hessian hut. These were used to house George III’s Hessian mercenaries. New York is terribly cold in winter and terribly hot in summer, and was almost completely Tory during the revolution. The hut predates the house.

Walking north on St. Nicholas Ave. from 160th St., Sylvan Terrace looks like a Wild West movie set. It’s actually 20 rowhouses built in 1882 with maintained facades (the interiors are rarely even partly original). They go for around $1.6 million these days.

At the top of Sylvan Terrace is Jumel Terrace, and the Morris-Jumel mansion. Built in 1765 by one of the wealthiest men in New York, it is quite different in character from the Dyckman farmhouse.

Morris-Jumel mansion, built 1765

Like the Dyckman farmhouse, the Morris-Jumel mansion is decorated in the early 19th century style; obviously, it’s a much grander house.

Dare I say I find the juxtaposition of 1820s-40s wallpapers and carpeting against Georgian neoclassical decorative elements horrifying?

Apparently when in France the Jumels socialized with Napoleon, so there’s a lot of that Empire style of decor as well.

The house has a bit of history: this is where George Washington planned the Battle of Harlem Heights; this is where Aaron Burr and Eliza Jumel shared their marriage of convenience (her benefit being the maintenance of social standing, his the spending of her fortune).

The upstairs bedrooms are furnished with a natural feeling jumble of furniture and decorative objects from the mid 18th through mid 19th centuries.

Of course, the kitchen is again in the basement. When I reflect on my childhood, I remember spending an inordinate amount of time in colonial kitchens learning about how people cooked and ate in the 18th century. Isn’t it so silly, looking back? Isn’t it the part of history that matters the least?

The grounds of Morris park are very small but removed and peaceful. The plantings are authentic to those that would have been used in the colonial Americas. When I visited they were past their bloom, but the heirloom roses here are known for their strong and lovely scent.

I hate to say it, but Hamilton Grange (at St. Nicholas Terrace and 141st St.) was a disappointment. Firstly, it’s not on its original site, and it’s hard to contextually appreciate in the corner of granite rocks it currently occupies.

The cellar floor is a small museum for schoolchildren using a few artifacts to map out Hamilton’s biography. The piano nobile, which I’ve photographed here, contains few if any of Hamilton’s belongings. The third floor bedrooms are inaccessible National Park Service offices. In other words, a waste of a beautiful historic house! This is technically the Hamilton Memorial, rather than a historic house museum, so my hopes were likely unfair expectations.

A lot of the furniture is repro and the entry way floor is LINOLEUM! At least the palette isn’t as offensive as the Morris-Jumel mansion’s. Also, I have to give it to the basement kiddie museum: if you are quite familiar with the musical Hamilton, you will laugh at how some lyrics are pulled line for line from the 90s educational video played down there.

Would I revisit any of these houses? No, although if I’m in the neighborhood on a sunny day I won’t hesitate to take my lunch to the Morris-Jumel garden to sit and relax in tranquility.

the Museum of the City of New York

I’m a Native New Yorker. It’s the second sentence in my professional bio. It’s about 70% of my personal identity (New Yorker first, dog lover second, art/culture/history fan third, Buddhist fourth, Real Estate Agent fifth, Youtuber sixth, aspiring world traveler seventh . . . friend and sister eighth?!?! yikes . . . all other social roles of incidental significance . . . )

I’ve also been one of those white ladies you would truly regret asking about her ethnicity, because my family goes all the way back in the city. My heritage is a rather perfectly proportional reflection of the second generation rise of various immigrant populations into socially acceptable circles, from the arrival of the Dutch in New Amsterdam onwards. I’ve seen enough eyes glaze over to now lightheartedly summarize with “standard East Coast blend,” “lots of white,” “history’s a mystery!”, “miscellaneous Euro”, etc.

All this to say, I didn’t think anyone could tell my anything about the history of New York I hadn’t learned from the explicit and tacit teachings of my grandparents. i was wrong! The Museum of the City of New York has the best teaching exhibits I could imagine on both the demographics of the city over time AND its social, political, economic and cultural evolution. I spent many hours there, and could spend MANY more.

New York has unfortunately always been rife with nativism, classism and prejudice. I wish more New Yorkers would visit this museum to learn some FACTS. Perhaps the part I enjoyed most was seeing tourists from many different countries (I heard German, Dutch, Russian, Arabic, Polish?, Spanish and Italian spoken in the galleries that day) taking the time to deliberately watch the detailed, map intensive video exhibits, and then discuss what it meant to go from being whatever-they-are to being an assimilated New Yorker.

In this country we often ask what it means “to be a real American,” and so often ignore the far more important question of what it should mean to become American. This is a question us citizens can answer constructively, together, without judging each other’s ancestry.

I may always cringe when I hear myself on voicemail or see myself on film, with the nasal, lockjawed pronunciation and incessant supra shoulder gesturing that will mark me as a New YAWKUH for the rest of my days. I may want to go far, far away for as long as I can. I do still love the city though, and this museum does a great job explaining it. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

If, as a native, I could choose one essential takeaway for anyone visiting, it would be this: please remember New York City’s history of peaceful protest and social advocacy!

Quick Visit to El Museo del Barrio

About 10 days ago my psychiatrist said getting out and exercizing, even if it’s just walking a mile or two, is an essential curative action for my depression and grief. Despite my new 20mg Lexapro subscription, I’ve been spending about half my days in bed, in a darkened room, feeling bad, so I decided today to take this advice to heart.

El Museo is small and friendly and all about how tough it was/is to be a Puerto Rican in New York. There are fewer but similarly inspired works by Dominican and Mexican Americans also.

I wish I could say spending a good 40 minutes considering the systemic oppression of Latinos made my personal problems seem small by comparison, but it didn’t. Aren’t all catastrophes essentially personal?

It was a nice experience and reason to get out of bed nonetheless. Kind people, good art, good restaurant, and the entrance to the area of Central Park with the formal garden and duck pond is right across the street.

I walked around the pond a bit despite the rain. That was the theme of my day: sometimes it rains; sometimes it’s dark and gray; whether it’s the weather outside or the weather in my mind, from now on I won’t let it stop me.

The obstacles I’m facing are pretty serious, but the world didn’t end today.

Gritty Sh*tty Tribeca

I . . . never loved Tribeca. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t turn down a multimillion dollar cast iron palace à la Blake Lively and Harry Styles, but the reasons celebs love it tend to be the very reasons plebes hate it. Street life is nil . . . many brunchy bistros, all with very expensive potted plantings rotated biweekly; the occasional superbougie toy shop or book store; dive bars, dollar pizza places, graffitied vacant storefronts, and brutalist highrises mix indiscriminately with the sedate, darkened lobbies of luxury condo buildings made from gutted Victorian factories and warehouses.

Façades remain deliberately gritty and retail deliberately shitty for the discreet, impressionist lifestyles of the überrich: going about their business in chauffeured black cars, they do not participate in street life; from afar (say the huge windows of a $20 million loft apartment) the graffiti and grime are picturesque and “old school New York.” Dollar slice shops are headspaces to glance at punk teenagers and daydream, NOT a dietary option, symbol of class polarization, or symptom of an urban food desert.

For all my disdain, I understand how the neighborhood remains aesthetically inspirational for many. So here are some themes I like in Tribeca!

1. The neon lighting shops along Canal. This has been an electrician source place for at least 70 years, and they don’t bother doing anything with their windows at all, which is fun!

2. Graffiti . . . this is what the tourists come for!

3. Brutalist architecture and public sculpture

4. Art Deco

5. City Hall Park. Small enough for a peaceful pretty stroll, and the golden statue Civic Fame is visible from almost anywhere in the neighborhood, calling like a beacon of serenity.

And here are two unique spots I just like:

1. The Ghostbusters fire station? How have I lived 36 years as a native New Yorker and not realized this?

2. Philip Williams Posters. Local legend since 1973 and he’s in the shop every day, a decorator MUST

Hanging Around the Brooklyn Museum

Every time I go to the Brooklyn Museum, I spend the whole day there. I fully intend to venture out towards the other attractions of Prospect Park, I just get sucked into the place! It’s the perfect size museum to do in a day, special exhibitions included; the cafeteria is scenic and peaceful for a solo casual meal and the restaurant is viable for a business meeting.

On a beautiful day, the sunny plaza in front is also a great place to sit and eat something from the food trucks that line up outside. There’s usually popcorn, ice cream, pretzels, hot dogs/fries/classics and halal available.

Unfortunately photos were not permitted in the Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving exhibit, so stay tuned for an additional post discussing that with professional images.

Meanwhile, I checked out Infinite Blue, a collection of art & objects dating from 3500 BCE to the present focusing on “spiritual, powerful, beautiful blue”; Arts of Korea, featuring decorative arts through the centuries and Kwang Young Chun: Aggregations, very recent work from a contemporary South Korean artist; Eric N. Mack: Lemme walk across the room, the first NYC solo exhibition by the artist; and the iconic permanent installation The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago.

I was losing steam by the time I sauntered through One: Egúngún, and finished my visit breezing through the permanently installed Period Rooms and Decorative Arts collection I am so familiar with.

The Brooklyn Museum permanent collection is also so great at teaching American history through art; it’s a lot more digestible than the American Wing at the Met.

For me, the fun in going to museums is noticing little things I never have before. On this visit I noticed how Klimt must have been familiar with and inspired by 18th and 19th century Korean or Chinese portraiture when creating his famously gilded, ornate, abstract, two dimensional backgrounds; I also got up close for the first time and observed how 3D and textural the best stained glass is, with rocks cut like rocks, and petals softly rounded like petals. The effect was sadly impossible for me to catch on camera in the limited time I had before the gallery closed!

I wasn’t able to eat in the neighborhood, but at least I took the time to stroll past the Brooklyn Public Library and Grand Army Plaza monument to the next subway stop. What a lovely day!