A Events

Currents of Change: A Water Stories Symposium

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Join us on April 24–25 for Currents of Change: A Water Stories Symposium, an interdisciplinary gathering designed to deepen our understanding of human-water relationships. Building on the themes explored in our Water Stories exhibition, this two-day event will bring together voices from across the arts, sciences, public policy, and academia to explore the ecological, cultural, and poetic dimensions of water. From microbial ecosystems to urban waterways, the symposium will investigate water as both a material and metaphorical force-shaped by human and non-human actors alike. Together, we aim to catalyze new conversations around care, stewardship, and the future of water in a rapidly changing world.

In addition to panels and talks, the symposium will feature hands-on workshops, tea ceremonies, sound baths and an incredible performance by Britton Smith and The Sting, who will perform MAMA-a powerful funk set celebrating and singing to water. These immersive experiences are designed to activate the senses, foster community, and create space for collective reflection on our relationship with this vital element.

We warmly invite you to join our community and connect with others who are deeply committed to the health of our waters and to living in symbiosis with nature.

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Community Ecology Reading Group

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Join NYC Parks Greenthumb and Solar One's Stuy Cove Park at BioBat Art Space for the spring 2025 edition of the Community Ecology Reading Group! This media meetup is a non-traditional book club-- here's how it works: bring a book, article, podcast, film, etc related to this season's theme of MICROBES as well as a short snippet or quote you'd like to share with the group. We'll casually and tangentially discuss all things bacterial, fungal, eukaryotic and viral while enjoying some fermented beverages and other snacks (feel free to BYO!) We can read aloud to one another and add our contributions to the ongoing crowd-sourced Ecological Reading List.

Afterwards we'll take a walk through the current exhibition Water Stories, curated by Elena Soterakis, which includes a good many algal ancestors, ecological extremophiles, and recalcitrant microbes from whom we surely have much to learn about surviving on a rapidly changing planet. We hope to see you there!
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Luminous Waves

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During the Fall of 2024, BioBAT Art Space partnered with Pratt Institute's Dept. of Digital Arts graduate level course: Video Projection Mapping taught by Professor Caroline Voagen Nelson. In this course, Pratt DDA students developed projection mapped video installations proposals for BioBAT Art Space’s current exhibition, Water Stories. The collaboration was developed by Nelson and Curator Elena Soterakis with the aim for students to have the educational experience of creating site-specific digital art installation pitches for an exhibition. Students were divided into groups and created projects inspired by the exhibition’s concept and aesthetics; along with taking into consideration technical feasibility, materials, budget, and timeline in their proposals. These pitches included developing working prototypes of their concepts that were presented in November. Two group projects were accepted to be included in the exhibition: Worn by Waves by Jianing Cui, Jay Bradley, Onur Mavitas and Blue Tears by Iriz Lin, Lynn Feng, Tong Wu Bill.
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Gallery Open Hours

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We are open Saturdays 12-5 PM & Wednesday to Friday by Appointment

Artist talk: John Milisenda

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Stream of Consciousness: an inner dialogue of photographic journey.
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Biography
John Milisenda’s photography has appeared in over 150 shows and in many publications including Smithsonian and the New York Times. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Harry Ransom Collection, Brooklyn Museum, Museum Of The City Of New York, and the Bibliotheque Nationale. in Paris. He has taught basic photography, The Zone system and Photographic chemistry at Drexel University The New School and Parson school of Design. He has lectured on many different photographic topics.

Website: johnmilisenda.com

About the Talk:
Selecting photographs from the thousands taken during John Milsenda’s lifetime for this lecture was a daunting task. However, it highlights the central role of the stream of consciousness in his creative process.

Photographers often question how they arrive at particular images, frequently discovering unexpected insights during the development process. This creative unconscious functions as an underlying stream that artists continuously draw upon. For Milsenda, two quotations provided inspiration for this exploration, not as definitive answers but as sparks for thought and creativity.

One quotation comes from William James’ 1892 essay on the Stream of Consciousness:
“Consciousness, then, does not appear to itself chopped up in bits. Such words as 'chain' or 'train' do not describe it fitly as it presents itself in the first instance. It is nothing jointed; it flows. A 'river' or a 'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let us call it the stream of thought, of consciousness, or of subjective life.”

Another definition expands on the concept:
“In literature, a technique that records the multifarious thoughts and feelings of a character without regard to logical argument or narrative sequence. The writer attempts by the stream of consciousness to reflect all the forces, external and internal, influencing the psychology of a character at a single moment. The technique was first employed by Édouard Dujardin (1861–1949) in his novel Les Lauriers sont coupés (1888) and was subsequently used by such notable writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner.”

These perspectives, combined with metaphors from James Joyce’s Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, served as guides in curating the photographs for this exhibition. Each image represents an act of free association, yet together they flow in a seamless confluence. Appropriately, the exhibition has been titled Streams of Consciousness.