andrea haenggi

Estuarial Assembly: Council of the Weeds is a somatic research investigation exploring the East River’s edge, inviting local spontaneous urban terrestrial and aquatic plant experts to respond to the Waterfront Comprehensive Plan (WCP). Through dance and sound, agent andrea haenggi will engage with plant experts and the vital “sea body” to hear their voices, as well as a series of talks with community members to speak about resilience and healing in relation to the multispecies coastal commons we collectively share. The project will culminate in an invitation to Mayoral Candidates to join us for a walk along the shoreline to imagine what multispecies commoning could be for a coastal city. The voices and experiences shared will be integrated into a Public Healing Report in the form of annotations to the WCP document and propelled into a public performance entitled, Thank You Estuarial.

andrea haenggi with

• (collaborator) Estuarial Assembly: Council of the Weeds are urban spontaneous terrestrial and aquatic vegetation living, breathing, and thriving on the shoreline of the East River. They are known for their resiliency and can handle the hotter summers, heavier storm runoff, and increased carbon dioxide that have come with global warming. They tend to each other, evolve with humans, and bring their wisdom as speculative future flora to the question of survival in a warmer world.

• (collaborator) Christopher Kennedy (he/him) is an EPA agent and advisor for this effort. He is the assistant director at the Urban Systems Lab (The New School) and lecturer in the Parsons School of Design. Kennedy’s research focuses on understanding the socio-ecological benefits of spontaneous urban plant communities in NYC, and the role of civic engagement in developing new approaches to environmental stewardship and nature-based resilience.