As the Earth’s human population becomes predominantly urban, cities hold an important key to the future of environmental conservation and sustainability initiatives. What is the role of the public in this conversation? An exciting art installation on view at Montefiore Park in upper Manhattan in October 2011 – Mary Miss/City as Living Laboratory for Sustainability in Urban Design – engaged the public as science learners whose behaviors, actions, and decisions have direct impact on the environment.

The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities will host a free, public panel of arts professionals, critics, and cultural thinkers to discuss this groundbreaking installation, and how artists can engage the public in a dialogue about sustainability and the environment.  The panel program, discussion, and reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hunter College, Student Dining Room, Hunter West Building, 3^rd floor, Lexington & East 68^th St., in New York City. Attendees will be required to show ID at security.

This National Science Foundation-supported panel discussion will explore research into public art as a foundation for informal science learning in public spaces. The collaboration between Dr. John Fraser, conservation psychologist and President of New Knowledge Organization and artist Mary Miss examines the emerging role of artists and visual thinkers as catalysts for conversations between scientists, “place-makers,” and the public. 

The discussion of the implications of the City as Living Laboratory experimental installation and its future as BROADWAY: 1000 STEPS will be moderated by Nancy Princenthal, art critic and former senior editor of Art in America. The panelists are

• Patricia Phillips, Dean of Graduate Studies, Rhode Island School of Design
• Eleanor Heartney, art critic
• Tom Finkelpearl, Executive Director, The Queens Museum of Art
• Niels Van Tomme, curator, critic, and Director of Arts and Media, Provisions Learning Project

Opening remarks will be provided by Professor William Solecki, Ph.D., Director, CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, Hunter College, and Dr. John Fraser, Ph.D., AIA, President, New Knowledge Organization Ltd., and Adjunct Faculty, Hunter College.

Mary Miss, artist and founder of Mary Miss/City as a Living Lab will introduce the installation.

This panel is supported by a National Science Foundation EAGER grant #1240461.

Recordings of this program will be archived at Provisions Library in Washington, D.C.