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NYU Gallatin WetLab

@gallatinwetlab

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Gallatin WetLab is a living laboratory and teaching gallery. We aim to inspire deeper engagement and meaningful dialogue on the climate crisis.

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Gallatin WetLab’s co-founder and co-director Karen Holmberg teaches the NYU undergraduate course “Coastlines: Past, Present, and Future.” It entwines archaeology, geomorphology, climate change considerations, urban ecology, citizen science, and science fiction to think about the changing coastlines of NYC and the impact of urbanism on the natural environment.

Kicking off this week’s class was Team Blitzers, representing community science and showcasing their environmental data collection from Governors Island with an engaging hands-on “species cards” activity.

This week’s guest speakers were fashion consultant Catherine Holmberg and coastal ecologist & writer Ella Gatfield:

Catherine led a discussion on the Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) of a recycled nylon handbag, comparing water usage and carbon intensity across conventional and innovative materials—including the implications of scoping cradle-to-gate vs. cradle-to-grave.

Ella explored the historical ecology of New York’s coastal and marine habitats (salt marshes, eelgrass meadows, and macroalgae communities) and their critical roles as ecosystem engineers and carbon sinks. She wrapped up with a hands-on seaweed pressing workshop, highlighting both the scientific and artistic applications of the process.

Until next week! taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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Our most recent Coastlines class on the island merged a visit to artist Hedwig Brouckaert’s poignant “Hyperobjects - Governors Island” show of polystyrene marine debris, conversations with professional mariner Malcolm Martin and Gallatin alum and EPA Alumni Board of Directors member Peter Brandt, and warmly welcomed visits by Governors Island President & CEO Clare Newman and some student parents for Taco Vista-ing. Add in the discovery by the class that the longest slide in all of NYC was at their disposal on the far tip of the island and it was yet another perfect class day! @nyugallatin @gallatinwetlab @governorsisland @bryantheknapp @hedwig_brouckaert @artcrawlharlem taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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7 days ago

@gallatinwetlab proudly hosted the artists’ opening for “Laboratory for Other Worlds” as a finale for Climate Week NYC. This is the inaugural ground floor exhibition in the WetLab house. It responds to damaged landscapes by constructing spaces of refuge—incomplete yet insistent acts of preservation, witnessing, and re-enchantment within worn-out worlds. Conceived by interdisciplinary artist Patte Loper, the larger project seeks to make climate science accessible through immersive installation. Collaborator Erin Genia’s Dakota worldview is central to the project and Tanya Crane’s wearable sculptures draw living ecosystems and creative process into conversation about hierarchy and desires for a more equitable world. The oyster shell bio-ceramic of @annimal_dinner, developed during her @the_iparch residency on @governorsisland and the cheerful help of our friends at @tacovistanyc @sixcoasts @downtownboathouse made it clear that island friendships are their own refugia. The exhibition was brilliantly curated by Eugenia Kisin and a hybrid catalog/scholarly volume from Bloomsbury Press is forthcoming. 💧🦪 @nyugallatin @patteloper @sugarplankton 💧🦪 Open to the public Fri-Sun, 10-4:00 through late Oct 2026 and then again May-Oct 2027. taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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19 days ago

With the enormity of the scale that Climate Week NYC is within the gridlock that is the UN General Assembly, just a shout out to my favorite event of a very busy week 🫶Volcanic rock and urban outreach climate solutions for the win! CO2 removal = prob good idea. Thank you, natural chemical weathering processes! 🌋 with gratitude to @jellambert @earthmatterny @bryensheher @mattstanleynyc @jw4lker @gallatinwetlab @delp_emily @_abbyro_ @neha.harle @elizakatedirigo @gallatinwetlab @nyugallatin taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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22 days ago

Repost from our Early Career Ocean Professional, Mareeka Dookie and youth leaders at the SDG Moment this week ahead of the United Nations General Assembly #nyc #youth4sdgs #ECOP #unitednations taken in United Nations Headquarters by @gallatinwetlab

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Celebrate #ClimateWeek on Governors Island with us at the @gallatinwetlab ! @jellambert will be highlighting the use of volcanic rock in agriculture to capture carbon - RSVP link in bio - come through!

Thank you for the Goddard Grant, @nyugallatin and @NYUOfficeofSustainability ! You made it possible. taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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Join us! Harness the power of stones (especially if they are volcanic)! Come to Governors Island for Climate Week for our hands-on workshop. RSVP here: tinyurl.com/GovIslandERW #climateweek @gallatinwetlab @nyugallatin @nyuniversity @nyu_green @urbanerwrocks by @gallatinwetlab

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On Friday we were invited to give a talk to a an incredible group of students from the NYU Gallatin School with Professor Karen Holmberg.

Her class is an interdisciplinary program and students were able to appreciate the art at the Field Station of the Melancholy Marine Biologist by artist Mark Dion before class. Previously presented at Storm King Art Center as part of the exhibition Climate Indicators: Artists on Climate Change in 2018, the art exhibit takes on a new form on Governors Island, with objects and material culture informed by the Island’s unique history and the ecology of New York Harbor and the Buttermilk Channel. Since October 8, 2021, the piece has bern be on long-term view in Building 105, a historic arsenal building located within the Governors Island Historic District

At the the new Gallatin WetLab, we were greeted by Jyrell McGriff, exhibit docent from the Billion Oyster Project (BOP) for an introduction to the BOP restoration project and the public exhibition house at Nolan Park.

We closed with an inspiring meeting about Peace Boat US internship opportunities and programs for the United Nations Ocean Decade with Paulette Gonzalez-Sierchio (Exec. Director, NYU Wasserman Center), Tyler Rai (Glacial Hauntologies Collective), Janet Gomez (Senior Director, Gallatin Experiential Learning) and students. We look forward to building new partnships for education and ocean literacy in New York City together!

#education #academic #partnerships #ocean #literacy @gallatinwetlab by @gallatinwetlab

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On July 7, we spotted three blue eggs on a window ledge. Yesterday, after many hours with no appearance of a parent and several conversations with our favorite bird experts, the wonderful @ellabeaaan took the sole surviving baby bird to the @wildbirdfund.

The two days prior were filled with flash flooding, intense wind, and Canadian wildfire smoke. Somehow there was perfect weather for The People’s Final World Cup watch party on the parade ground. Who knew NYC could be so wholesome? Face painting, bracelet making, soccer clinics, a drum corps, a big screen and a grassy lawn would have been worth the price of admission, and they were free. @grownyc gave away free freshly harvested veggies grown on the island and we had a steady flow of poets from the Poetry Festival streaming through the @gallatinwetlab house.

It may be some time before we hear any further news; we’re rooting for you, baby bird! 🪺. @nyugallatin taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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3 months ago

The Gallatin WetLab has (softly) launched in its permanent space on Governors Island!! We have three brilliant graduate student staff members who will welcome you into the house any Fri-Sun 10-4:00 through the end of October. As one of them wrote in our first end-of-day report, “Karen almost cried.” True story. It has been a long time coming but good things sometimes take time.

It was poignant and apt that our very first visitor was the NYU Chief Sustainability Officer, Cecil Scheib. He has been a friend to WetLab since 2020, when he heroically calculated every watt of energy use needed for the equipment our students dreamed of installing for co-founder Eugenia Kisin and me. Watching a steady stream of visitors in the space was a dream. Proud and humbled, too, that the NYU Center CIRCL initiative brought a group of indigenous youth to visit this week.

For now, the one accessible installation is the stunning Mandala on the second floor. That is no small thing, though. Some of our first visitors returned three times within the same day! The installation is a brilliant collaboration by artist and composer Daniel Starr-Tambor; Office of Tangible Space; and Likeminded Objects. As the wall text [heroically put up in record time by Michael Yarinky] acknowledges, special thanks go out to physics, math, and the solar system for their role. The musical composition is based on the orbital rhythm of the planets of our solar system around the sun in the actual ratios at which they revolve. It is composed using the first eight partials of the Natural Harmonic Series (sorry, Pluto). It is an experiential way to view our scale in space-time that can continue without repetition for 2.8 nonillion years. While magical already on its own, the first day magic was upped by a live performance by composer and creative technologist Gavin Gamboa. There will be more activations by guests to come.

Come visit! Fri-Sun 10-4:00 💦🌎 @gallatinwetlab @nyugallatin @nyu_green @governorsisland @tangible.space @likemindedobjects @gavcloud @sugarplankton taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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3 months ago

Soft launch alert + a wide and warm welcome to all! The year-round @nyugallatin @gallatinwetlab will open its doors for the first time on Sat July 11, 10-4! Come to see “Mandala”: the longest song ever composed [as it is the cycles of the planets set to sound and light]. It is an extraordinary collaboration between @tangible.space and composer Daniel Starr-Tambor. Some other musical surprises may be in order, too! Give it time, but Laboratory for Other Worlds by @patteloper, the olfactory art magic of @nymphoid523, and the good witchery of @tessa.grundon as well as the Virtual Volcano Observatory are forthcoming this summer! All are welcome. Photos of a little meteorite chunk sitting in witness of Mandala and some lovely robin’s eggs guarding Tessa’s “Library of Lost Places” work until it’s installed as talismans for a remarkable inaugural season! 💦🌱 taken in Governors Island by @gallatinwetlab

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Crackerjack collection of art-science heroes made two packed days of outreach to thousands at the SUBMERGE Marine Science Festival a dream! Throw in the historic John J Harvey 1931 fire boat, some crazy cool raptors, and some dancing oysters and this year’s SUBMERGE was a good one! @hudsonriverpark @nyugallatin @avagracepaolucci @stlawrence.gallery @smiley.sleepy.squid @ellagatfield @gallatinwetlab taken in Pier 84 at Hudson River Park by @gallatinwetlab

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5 months ago