Tag Archives: nature

Hey, Socrates, What Do You See?

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If you’re hankering for last summer’s BMW Idea Lab, zoom in on the conversation on the future of Long Island City and the shoreline near Socrates Sculpture Park at the Noguchi Museum’s visionary show Civic Action.

Noguchi and Socrates have commissioned four artists to work with architects, designers, and urban planners to reimagine the surrounding neighborhood, a mélange of homes, high rises, light industry, and Costco. The proposals by Mary Miss, George Trakas, Natalie Jeremijenko, and Rirkrit Tiraanija are on display at the Noguchi for a few more days. Other related installations will appear at Socrates in May.

If you can’t get to Queens, go virtual by checking out three videos and watch the brainstorming among artists and planners:

Enjoy the discussion and contemplate some exciting futures.

Farming The Grid

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Did anyone notice that there’s new land and a farm just east of First Avenue and 29th Street? It used to be a dirt-road exit from the FDR, but not anymore.

If you’ve visited the blockbuster show The Greatest Grid at The Museum of the City of New York, you know that around 1804 this section of Kip’s Bay was being homesteaded by the various Kips relatives before their land got gridded.

Well, the farm has come back, courtesy of Tom Colicchio’s protégé, Sisha Ortuzar, the top chef at Riverpark restaurant tucked back behind Bellevue in the ground floor of the glamorous new Alexandria Center – a biotech high-rise whose tenants include Pfizer and ImClone (remember them?).

Because scientists can get hungry, too, Colicchio opened up his ‘Wichcraft sandwich shop right next door in the plaza inside a bright, shiny, Apple-worthy glass cube.

The farm is producing fresh produce for the Colicchio businesses on site (look at the crop list), and his crew is also giving tours and workshops on urban farming.

Check out the photos of the new land and spring crops. And drop by the farm the next time you’re on the M-15.