Instagram story viewer> @lauranova> Posts
Laura Nova(@lauranova)'s profile avatar HD Profile

Laura Nova

@lauranova

1.6K
followers
3816
following
Artist, Educator and Problem Solver on the Lower East Side, NYC
Harpo Foundation Visual Artist
NYC Urban Field Station AIR @the_nature_of_cities
POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED
Download All
Earlier this year, as part of the Multispecies Festival, we gathered for Tree Social, an event that asked what it might mean to encounter the street trees around The New School not simply as urban infrastructure, but as neighbors, collaborators, and potential friends. Tree Social reimagined care for street trees as an interspecies social event, beginning from the idea that good relationships start with deep listening. We are far more likely to protect what we have a genuine relationship with, so caring for urban nature may depend less on obligation and more on friendship. Artist Laura Nova (Parsons/NaturePLACE Artist in Residence), ecological sound artist Lisa Schonberg (Parsons), and social scientist Lindsay Campbell (U.S. Forest Service) invited participants to encounter the street trees surrounding The New School through the rituals we often use to make friends: meeting, listening, getting to know one another, and building connection before committing to care. 🌱 Care as multispecies friendship
🐛 Research as relationship across species
🌀 Listening as the first act of ecological care As we begin a new semester, we’re excited to continue sharing moments from the festival and to introduce the Multispecies Lab’s upcoming programming, research, conversations, and collaborations. #TreeSocial #MultispeciesLab #Multispecies #MoreThanHuman #Interspecies by @lauranova
1
16 days ago
Download
🌳 Tonight’s the night. New Dendrology opens at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, 6–8 PM — and my piece, Tree Commitment Bureau, is part of it. Got a tree you love? Tell me your tree-loving story in the comments or DMs, and I’ll send you your very own Tree Commitment Contract, in the language of your choice. 📍 The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park, 830 Fifth Ave at 64th St
🗓️ On view through November 6 #NewDendrology #ArsenalGallery #NYCParks #TreeCommitmentBureau by @lauranova
4
22 days ago
Download
🌳 Do you have a tree-loving story? This Thursday, I’m making it official. Tree Commitment Bureau opens Thursday, September 10, 6–8 PM at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park — part of the group exhibition New Dendrology. There’s a commitment canopy, rings, contracts, a tree fascinator photo booth, and (yes) dirt cake. No gifts, please. But if you’ve got a tree-loving story tell me about it in the comments or DMs, and I’ll send you your very own Tree Commitment Contract, in the language of your choice. 🌿 📍 The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park (830 5th Ave at 64th St, 3rd Floor)
🔗 RSVP link in bio
🗓️ On view through November 6 Fall in love and commit to a tree. No prenup required. With gratitude to my collaborators and supporters: NaturePlace with the Urban Field Station, NYC Parks, the USDA Forest Service, and @the_nature_of_cities Cities. Tree Commitment Bureau is led by Laura Nova (www.lauranova.com), made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by @nyculture and @nyscouncilonthearts and administered by @lmcc_nyc by @lauranova
2
24 days ago
Download
You are cordially invited to fall in love and commit to a tree (no prenup required) Thursday, September 10 · 6–8 PM The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park 830 Fifth Avenue at 64th Street, Third Floor The exhibition remains on view through November 6, 2026 Link in bio if you would like to RSVP I’m thrilled to share some exciting news: this fall, I’m tying the knot with a tree. Well — sort of. Let me explain. My new project, Tree Commitment Bureau, is opening as part of New Dendrology, a group exhibition of eleven artists exploring new relationships between humans and trees, presented by NYC Parks and curated by Ash Cortes at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park — a municipal building that I’ve reimagined, for my piece, as the tree world’s answer to the marriage bureau at City Hall. Tree Commitment Bureau is an interspecies commitment ceremony that asks all of us to formalize what many of us already feel: devotion to a tree. There’s a commitment ceremony canopy, commitment rings, and commitment contracts — and the whole thing is designed to explore, with humor and heart, what it really means to enter into a relationship with a tree. The whole gallery has been transformed for the occasion, turning a municipal office space into a place for ceremony and celebration. There will be a Photo Booth! And of course, no commitment ceremony is complete without party favors and cake — you’ll go home with pollinator seed packets, and we’ll celebrate with dirt cake. This project comes out of a belief I’ve carried for a long time: that it’s a two-way street between us and the trees we live alongside. They cool our blocks, calm our nerves, and give us a reason to linger outside and talk to our neighbors. In return, a New York Times report this year found that it’s not enough to just plant new trees — we have to hold onto the older ones we’ve already got, because that’s what actually saves lives. The average city street tree lives just 19 to 28 years, a fraction of the centuries a well-tended tree can reach, often simply because no one showed up for it. Tree Commitment Bureau is my way of making that vow official. by @lauranova
3
a month ago
Download
You are cordially invited: I'm getting married…to a Tree🌳 . Thursday, September 10 · 6–8 PM The Arsenal Gallery, Central Park 830 Fifth Avenue at 64th Street, Third Floor The exhibition remains on view through November 6, 2026 Link in bio if you would like to RSVP by @lauranova
0
a month ago
Download
Bonus slide that got left out of the carousel cut from yesterday’s Tree Social event at @harpofoundation Back River Road residency but deserves its moment: the dirt cake. 🌱🍫 Because if you’re going to celebrate trees, you might as well eat dirt (the delicious kind) while you do it. by @lauranova
2
a month ago
Download
If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around, does it make a sound? If a forest mixer happens and nobody posts about it — did it even happen? 🌳 It happened, and it was wonderful. Yesterday I hosted Tree Social at @harpofoundation Back River Road residency in South Royalton, VT — home to Ed Levine’s Vermont Village, an environmental sculpture project whose structures live in harmony with the surrounding woods. A fitting setting for a forest mixer to meet our rooted neighbors. Timber thanks to @susan_shvetsova_katz for curating and inviting amazing friends. We walked the land, learned to identify trees, hugged a few, and tied cyanotype sashes around our new arboreal friends. There was tree fascinator hat making (saplings included — party hats for the trees), dirt cake among the refreshments, and plenty of good company gathered among the trees. Good relationships require deep listening, mutual care, and kinship — with each other, and with the trees who’ve been patiently waiting for us to notice them. Perfect weather, excellent company, and a lot of joy. Last photo @worthy_kitchen Worthy Burger. Swipe through 🌲🎩 by @lauranova
3
a month ago
Download
Super duper steward reporting for duty, ay ay captain. @nycparks by @lauranova
2
a month ago
Download
What happens if you let a group of New York City design students build your Sankt Hans bonfire? 🔥 The bonfire is an essential part of the Danish midsummer celebration Sankt Hans. A week ago, when the Consulate General set the scene for the summer celebration, we had a bonfire out of the ordinary. While open fire on a Midtown rooftop was not advised, that didn’t hold us back. Instead we found an ally in the Parsons School of Design. This semester, a group of students were working with rituals from around the world, and our Danish Sankt Hans proved to be the perfect muse. After our colleagues Matthias Agner Rasmussen and Esther Kirkegaard Thye-Petersen presented them with the Danish rituals, the students went to work. Their resulting work was the center of attention at our Sankt Hans celebration. Thank you to professors Otto von Busch and Laura Nova as well as the students for bringing this creative vision to life! taken in Denmark House in New York by @lauranova
1
3 months ago
Download
Another lil’ art run from the @brooklynmuseum to Coney Island @brooklyncyclones #rbcbrooklynhalf Let the summer begin! by @lauranova
1
5 months ago
Download
We spent Mother’s Day at THE MET…and did Gabe’s homework. Costume exhibition is pretty amazing but my phone died so you’ll have to visit and see for yourself. taken in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York by @lauranova
6
5 months ago
Download
Tree Social with my interspecies friends, Tina Cuevas @nycparks street tree care team, and Lindsay Campbell from the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station @pioneerworks second Sunday. In this tree stewardship workshop we help grow your relationship with NYC trees! Join the NYC Parks Stewardship team to learn how to care for local street trees, and learn some quick leaf identification, engage in dialogue through our Stewardship Salon format with the NYC Urban Field Station, and practice greeting, meeting, and socializing with trees with NYC UFS Artist in Residence Laura Nova. Come ready to put your hands in the dirt and meet your tree neighbors. by @lauranova
0
6 months ago
Download
×

Download all media on this page

Photos Videos
back to up