CIVIC SOLIDARITY at Westbeth Artists Housing

DeathLAB is pleased to announce another New York Community Trust-sponsored Civic Solidarity event, hosted at Westbeth Artists Housing in collaboration with Urban Lighting and nighttime designer Leni Schwedinger. The event will bring together two approaches to encouraging community and equity through civic design, each running through essential aspects of life that too often remain marginalized: death and the night. This Civic Solidarity event consists of a 20-minute presentation by two of DeathLAB’s research fellows, reviewing the lab’s philosophy, research, and urban proposals, including new engagement with Green-Wood Cemetery.

Leni Schwendinger’s talk, “Are You Afraid of the Dark, A Light Justice Approach” will walk us through nighttime design and lighting strategies she has developed over decades of practice that include community engagement. Open discussion on rethinking the roles of mortuary and lighting infrastructures and their agency to illuminate and strengthen our civic life and social bonds will follow the presentations.

Leni Schwendinger is a multi-disciplinary designer focusing on lighting and community engagement. Her projects include lighting cities, bridges, parks, and waterfronts. Her work is deeply rooted in community engagement through synthesizing communal approaches to outdoor illumination, on-site lighting workshops, and her NightSeeing™ program, where she leads nighttime walks through urban spaces around the world. The walks raise awareness about the fear and poetics of the darkened hours to improve the nighttime environment, especially for women and night-shifters.

Join us to share your thoughts, hopes, and questions about disposition and memorialization, both personal and societal.

deathlab.org

IG: @gsappdeathlab

Leni Schwendinger Light projects: lslp.net

Also check out other Arts events in New York, Workshops in New York.