AES-Residencies — Urban Soils Institute

USI Residencies @ SWALE House

Governors Island

2024

2023

in 2023 Swale hosted USI and Creature Conserve residencies together, along with the exhibition, Re-Imagining Conservation

2022

Roger Danilo Carmona
July 4-17

rogercarmona.com

Heather McMordie + Dr. Edward R. Landa
August 11-13

Ditch + wetland collaboration

heathermcmordie.com

Dr. Ed Landa

**Greg Stewart**
Oct 17-23

***Dirt Stories*** is an art project that uses dirt to tell stories in public spaces.

@gregstewart

Bel Sigado
July 18-24

exploring the weight of earth and the under-building happening within it through the extraction of and meditation on 15 pounds of urban soils collected throughout new york city

Bel Sigado IG

Flourish LAB
TBA

Provoking vivid relationships with the ecologies to which we exist. At USI, Flourish will prototype pipeless water infrastructure — a collaborative vision with Leaf Island to replace New York's water distribution and filtration network with a system of living aquifers.

flourishlab.site

**Mario Joyce**
virtual residency

Creating a genealogy of soil, from prehistory to today, by sourcing soil from every farm my ancestors lived on. Soil is politically connected to the wealth and colonial roots of this country.

@mariojoyceart

Lynn Cazabon
August 8-14

Uncultivated, a site-specific, scalable art project focused on wild plants within urban landscapes, thriving around areas of disturbance

lynncazabon.com

**Susan Smith**
Virtual Residency Sept - Oct
artist, educator, guerrilla gardener. "Radical Gardening" is a practice of immersion and witness of place, focused on acts of stewardship, imagining a world which is no longer uprooted by extractivist colonial power.
@slsmithstudio

This spot is for you : )

apply for in-person or virtual residencies, which come with an invitation to present at our annual Soils Symposium … Send us your ideas!!

Mia Greenwald
August 15-21

weaving, natural dyes, harvested clays

miagreenwald.com

**Angela Moreno-Long + Melanie Stein**
Oct 3-16 and Nov 16 + 17
***Urban Soil Transect*** an experiential investigation of urban soils along a sectional transect through New York City

@mmeladri

2021

**Kosmologym**
*Dirtball*
Summer
kosmologym.com + Dirtball

This year, Kosmologym will build the Dirtball Court in the Loop! Check in for workshops and opportunities to play!

**Makalé Cullen + Jason Smith, with Dr. Richard Shaw**
*Black Carbon: A History of Combustion*
July
makale-makale.com

city scape, legacy coal heating, industry, social contexts and soils soils soils

**Roger Danilo Carmona**
August 30-September 12
rogercarmona.com/
@thewrongcolor

*Earth Action Painting* residency project is a field manual outlining the importance of soil testing by expression and note-taking. A 50 foot collaborative drawing on paper, *Social Contract,* is currently being painted with purchased earth, and earth and plant colors found on Governors Island.

**Sarah Olson**
virtual residency
sarah-olson.com

exploring human migration and the destructive nature of extraction economies

**Lynn Cazabon**
Virtual Residency
*Uncultivated*
lynncazebon.com

Ongoing, site-specific, geo-referenced photographs, public displays, website, community collaborations and workshops about plants that thrive in urban soils

**Abra Lee**
virtual residency, possible August appearances
@conquerthesoil

reigning hype woman of Black garden history

**Amelia Marzec**
October 4-10
ameliamarzec.com
@ameliapractice
rebuilding and engaging with local communications infrastructure to prepare for an uncertain future

**Laura McGough**
June 7-20
lauraspitalemcgough.net

research on “soil cinema” and the materialist aesthetics of mud, dirt, earth and dust in contemporary experimental film and video

**Natalia Bezerra**
October 11-17
nataliabezerra.com

envision alternative means for growing food in both public and private spaces

**Margot Lystra**
September 19- October 3
margotlystra.com
@unruly_earths
landscape theorist, designer, and historian exploring techniques for sensing and showing the earthly dynamics of climate change, including relations between soil and atmosphere and dynamics of material transformation

**This spot is for you : )**
schedule is FULL for in-person residencies this season BUT there’s plenty of space for virtual residencies, which come with an invitation to present at our annual Soils Symposium … Send us your ideas!!

**Cindy Qiao**
June 21 - July 4
cindyqiao.com

Exploring ideas of “constructed nature”, especially constructed soil on Governors Island

**Lisa Bloodgood + Katherine Patino Miranda**
summer
katherinepatinomiranda.net

Director of Advocacy & Education at Newtown Creek Alliance, Lisa Bloodgood and artist/ environmental arts educator (and fellow gardener) Katherine Patiño Miranda collaborate on the soil microbiome of the indigenous milpas or three sisters, the companion planting of corn, beans, and squash

**Simone Johnson**
virtual residency +”Interpreting Soils” Porch Chat June 26, on wetlands ecology, sustainability and urban development
@sjj.nyc

2020

In 2020, most residencies were virtual due to Covid and restrictions in access to Governors Island. However, we were thrilled to have so many resident artists participate in USI’s first virtual Soils Symposium. The presentations and conversations were so good, it almost felt like our Porch Chats at Swale House.