SEPTEMBER 14, 2022: 7:27AM – 8:06PM
12 HOURS, 29 MINUTES

36.5 NYC VISION

36.5 / New York Estuary is the culminating work in the series, 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea, 2013 – 2022.

IT WILL BE A LARGE-SCALE INTERNATIONAL EVENT INVOLVING HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE STANDING IN THE WATER IN NYC WHILE SATELLITE PERFORMANCES HAPPEN IN ALL EIGHT PREVIOUS 36.5 LOCATIONS AROUND THE WORLD.  DURING THE PANDEMIC, THE PROJECT WAS ABLE TO GO DEEP INTO RESEARCH AND FORMING A LONGER TERM RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SITE. AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT WE ARE BUILDING:

  • A site-specific, community-engaged process: Sarah and NYC collaborators are gathering monthly at the water’s edge to build Kin To The Cove, a site-specific community-powered environmental public art process that connects local residents to the Cove and Water that surrounds NYC. This process aims to slowly build a team of 36.5 participants while building relationships with the water, imagining a healthier future, and committing to future stewardship of the site. Every stage of this process is documented.
  • The live performance will take place in the Cove at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens. Sarah will stand in water for one full tidal cycle, inviting the public to join her by standing in water and/or marking the passing of hours from shore as “the human clock.” Artist collaborators will create interventions and installations to amplify the performance. Viewing stations around the Cove, on Roosevelt Island and Upper East Side, Manhattan will allow audiences to gather from various viewpoints.
  • Eight international re-enactments will take place at each of the previous 36.5 locations: Maine, Mexico, San Francisco, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya, Aotearoa-New Zealand, with core collaborators organizing relay performances events at the sites where the project initially took place.
  • Live-stream of this final performance will be broadcast online, outdoors and into venues in and around all five boroughs of New York City, around the country, and the world. Footage from the global re-enactments will be layered-into the live-stream feed.
  • The durational video artwork will be created at the same time. Six cameras will capture the entire performance in real-time. Within 10 days, this footage will be edited into a durational video work (same length as the performance: 12-13 hours) and ready to premiere on site for the collaborating community to see it first.
  • The final form video installation will consist of 12-18 channels of video (one from each of the six fully filmed international works in the series, each showing as a 2 or 3 channels) with six layers of audio.
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36.5 / New York Estuary, Turtle Island – U.S.A.
The Cove on the East River where Astoria meets Long Island City, in so-called Queens, NYC
by Sarah Cameron Sunde

NYC Presenting Partners:
Works on Water
The Climate Museum
Arts Brookfield
Theater Mitu
Socrates Sculpture Park
New York University
The Skirball Center
Remote Theater
Ma’s House
The Watermill Center


Lead Artist:  Sarah Cameron Sunde

Cultural Consultant:  Tecumseh Ceaser

Producing Team: Karishma Bhagani, Amanda Nesci, Maya Shah

Film/Documentation Team:  Erick Stoll, Joe Bender, Todd Leatherman, Tara Geico, Jeremy Dennis

Livestream Team: Denis Butkus, Attilio Rigotti

Kin to the Cove / Community Mobilization Team: Bella Gallo, Christopher Bisram, Bruce (FUSE) McNeil, Beanca Christopher, Fernanda Aria

Kin to the Cove / Other Core Support: Audrey di Mola, James Manzi, Christina Delfico, Basil, Garfield Miller, Basil Vasiliou

Artist Collaborators: Pamella Allen, René Stewart-Pearce, moira williams, Elizabeth Velasquez, Gretchen Burger, Michael Roberson, Marie Lorenz, sTo Len, Joshua Dumas

Other Key Support Team: Maridee Slater, Karen Kitchen, Nora Almeida
Livestream Hosts:
Manhattan:  Arts Brookfield, NYU Gallatin Galleries, Riverside Park Conservancy
Brooklyn:  Mercury Store
Rockaway: RISE Rockaway
Staten Island:  Newhouse Center of Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center
New Jersey:  Hoboken Cove Community Boathouse

Beyond NYC:  Flux Projects (Atlanta), Northwest Film Forum (Seattle), Penn State, IDEO Headquarters (San Francisco)

Made possible with support from:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
MAP Fund
New York State Council on the Arts
Invoking the Pause
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council / Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone
Café Royal Foundation
Netherland-America Foundation
Citizens NYC Neighborhood Grant
Queens Council on the Arts
NYC Ferry
Hunter Boots
36.5 team, advisors, and individual contributors