September 2, 2011

Spurse will lead a research voyage by boat to the heart of New York’s most astonishing postnatural landscape. On the Hackensack River, where comfort meets waste, we will look at what happens after heavy rains, as our rivers and bays turn into sewage outlets for human waste, dispensed through a hidden network of combined sewer outflows (CSOs). Is this merely a poorly designed holdover from another era, or a strange reality of water flows meeting human flows? On this journey we will confront how our personal comfort produces systemic (dis)comforts, as we encounter evolving critters, multispecies squatters, and others, all negotiating novel alliances toward our future ecosystems.

Event Video

Photo: courtesy Johanna Vandemoortele

Red Bucket Films is a New York–based collective of writers, directors, cinematographers, art directors, and actors interested in capturing the beauty of ordinary life in cities. Their films show us stolen moments and hidden places. They have produced hundreds of short films and two features, The Pleasure of Being Robbed (Cannes, 2008) and Daddy Longlegs (Cannes, 2009). Members of Red Bucket will present a program of short works, including some “Buttons,” which they describe as “found films from the everyday,” as well as their acclaimed new short, John’s Gone (Venice, 2010).

Image: courtesy Red Bucket Films