In conjunction with Lara Almarcegui’s project Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River on view at Ludlow 38 until May 16, 2010, the Urban Landscape Lab, Ludlow 38 European Kunsthalle Cologne Goethe-Institut New York, and the Long Island City Community Boat House invites the public on a canoe trip up the Flushing River to explore Almarcegui’s wasteland sites and the area along the river.

The event, that is free and open to all, will take place on Saturday May 15, 2010. Participants will meet at 11 am at the Willets Pt. -Shea Stadium Subway stop (Subway line 7) at the exit to the stadium parking lot. From the parking lot we will walk to the Boat Launch that is located to the far east end of the Flushing Marina Bay Promenade (see directions below).

Day schedule for May 15, 2010:
11.00 am: Meeting at Pt-Shea Stadium Subway
11.15 am: Walking to the boat launch
12.00 pm: Instructions
1.00: Canoe trip starts, guiding to wasteland areas along the Flushing River.
2.30 Canoe trip ends

Limited places, distributed on a first come first serve basis, please RSVP by May 13 to ludlow38@verizon.net.

For questions call Helga Christoffersen at 646 595 6507

Directions (see the attached map):
A: The Boat Launch
B: Meeting point on May 15, 2010 at 11 am.
It is of course optional whether to show up at 11 am at the station or 12 pm at the boat launch.

About Lara Almarcegui’s Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River:

The publication Guide to the Wastelands of Flushing River contains photographs from 12 sites in Queens accompanied by concise descriptions that outline the locations’ history, present state and future. Visitors are invited to pick up a copy and explore these sites at their own leisure. A slide installation at the Ludlow 38 gallery on the Lower East Side presents a selection of photographs taken during Almarcegui’s excursions along Flushing River, from its original source via Willow Lake and Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the site for the 1939 and the 1964 World’s Fairs, to its estuary at Flushing Bay.

Lara Almarcegui was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1972 and lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has exhibited widely, at the Liverpool Biennial in 2004, the São Paulo Biennial in 2006, the Gwangju and Taipei Biennials in 2008, and the Ramallah and Athens Biennials in 2009, to name a few. Recent solo exhibitions include Ruins in the Netherlands at Ellen de Bruijne Gallery, Amsterdam and Pepe Cobo, Madrid, as well as Bilbao Wastelands at Sala Rekalde in Bilbao, all in 2008.

Thank you:
MINI, Friends of Goethe, Janette Kim, Erik Baard, Ted Gruber, Larissa Harris, Laura Segal, Paul Baker, Robert DiMaio, Monica Schroeder, Long Island City Community Boat House and Urban Landscape Lab Columbia University

MTA Arts for Transit presents Safari 7 Base Camp, an interactive exhibit about urban wildlife (Oysters! Fish! Squirrels! Chickens!) found along the 7 subway line.Safari 7 offers podcasts and maps that explore New York’s ecosystems, and their complexity, biodiversity, conflicts and potentials. Self-guided tours are available online. Through Safari 7 tours, subway cars serve as eco-urban classrooms and travelers become park rangers in their own city. During EarthWeek at Grand Central Terminal, visit the Safari 7 Base Camp in Vanderbilt Hall where you’ll be able to listen to podcasts that provide a narrated guide to the ecosystems found along the 7 line and view drawings that describe wildlife along the 7 line.

• EXHIBITION DATES: Mon Apr 19 – Sat Apr 24, 2010. 
• HOURS: 10am-7pm (Mon Apr 19 – Fri Apr 23) and 10am-5pm (Sat Apr 24).
• PRESS EVENT: 11am Mon Apr 19, with the exhibition curators
• LOCATION: Vanderbilt Hall Grand Central Terminal

Safari 7 is a collaboration between designers, educators, and students from GSAPP/Urban Landscape Lab at Columbia University and MTWTF. Selected podcasts are created by students in a seminar on urban ecology at the Barnard and Columbia Colleges Architecture Program. This exhibit is in conjunction with EarthFair organized by Earth Day New York.