LIVE ARTS
At NOoSPHERE Arts, we are passionate about using live arts to raise eco-awareness. Our productions incorporate a range of genres and styles, from music to dance, theater, and performance art, to create immersive experiences that inspire positive change.
Our music programming ranges from classical to experimental, and everything in between. Our productions often feature live performances that showcase the incredible talent of musicians from all around the world.
Dance is another important part of our performing arts programming. Our productions, often site-specific, range from contemporary to traditional, and feature innovative choreography that pushes boundaries.
Our performance art programming is a unique and boundary-pushing element of our organization. Performance art can take many forms, from immersive installations to interactive experiences, and blurs the lines between art and life. Our performance art productions often incorporate environmental themes and aim to create experiences that challenge audiences to think differently about their relationship with the planet.
WE ARE NATURE Highlights 2020-23
Set in a surreally beautiful nature sanctuary sprouting on top of an ExxonMobil industrial plant on the bank of Superfund site Newtown Creek, the recurring WE ARE NATURE Rooftop Series offers a combination of multiple art forms – dance, music, performance, visual art, poetry, prose and film – addressing humanity’s place on Earth in aims of engaging a diverse audience in environmental efforts through art.
WE ARE NATURE: Rising and Falling (2023)
Each season of our outdoor summer series is structured around a theme referencing systems thinking. This is a comprehensive approach to environmental sustainability spearheaded by leading thinker Fritjof Capra (fritjofcapra.net/), a longtime NOoSPHERE Arts collaborator. Systems thinking shows that all the major problems of our time—including energy, economics, climate change, and inequality—are interconnected and interdependent. In 2023, we explored the theme of Nature’s Cycles.
WE ARE NATURE: Patterns of Connection (2022)
For the 3rd iteration of WE ARE NATURE, we selected from Dr. Fritjof Capra’s book "Patterns of Connection" four essential characteristics of life, around which our artists created new, site-specific works.
WE ARE NATURE 2022 is sponsored, in part, by The National Endowment for the Arts, and also the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). NOoSPHERE Arts’ programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature
WE ARE NATURE: From Parts to Whole (2021)
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Spirals of Ecstasy: A Sufi Incantation
Magi Sufi Dance Master Farima Berenji, founder of the Simorgh Dance Collective,
accompanied by Sireen Abdelaziz, Fanny Pérez, and Jeffrey Paul.
Music by Hadi & Mohamad Eldebek of The Brooklyn Nomads.
Spinning spirals in various forms by Geb Berry, Michael Saab, and Sol Kjøk.
Video by Bernardo Gasparini.
WE ARE NATURE: A Monarch’s Journey
This spectacular setting is uniquely suited to engage a diverse audience in environmental efforts through art. The recurring WE ARE NATURE Rooftop Series offers a combination of multiple art forms – dance, music, performance, visual art, poetry, prose and film – addressing humanity’s place in the greater All.
Jester Eggs
Dancers Molly Gorin and Liz Hepp performing “Jester Eggs” on NOoSPHERE Arts Stage Roof for the Kingsland Wildflowers Festival on June 31, 2021.
Choreography and Concept by Molly Gorin @mollygorin in collaboration with Liz Hepp @lizhasinstagram.
Costumes by Molly Gorin
Performance curated and produced by CreateArt Performance @create.art.performance and NOoSPHERE Arts @noospherearts
Video by @daniela_holban, cover photo by Effy Grey @effygrey_photography
Matapena
Season Opener 2021 |10th Anniversary Celebration (delayed due to Covid).
Video by @daniela_holban
Katy Gunn
Singer-songwriter/Multi-Instrumentalist/Composer Katy Gunn (katygunn.com) performing live @LastFrontierNYC.
La Banda Chuska
@LaBandaChuska bringing down the house Creekside behind @LastFrontierNYC: passing sea boat captains joining the fun and tooting their horns to the awesome jams of our very favorite Brooklyn-based purveyors of surf and cumbia. Video by @bencawiezell
WE ARE NATURE 2020: AIR + WATER
The WE ARE NATURE Rooftop Series takes place in and around the Kingsland Wildflowers native-flora gardens above Last Frontier NYC.
Inspired by this unique location on the bank of Superfund site Newton Creek and the urgency of climate change, NOoSPHERE Arts (noosphere-arts.nyc) organizes this annual summer series combining multiple forms of creative expression addressing humankind’s place in the greater All in aims of engaging a diverse audience in environmental efforts through art
Lesley Kernochan
LA-based multi-talent Lesley Kernochan (lesleykernochan.com) performs her tune 'Country in the City' on our Upper Meadow for Kingsland Wildflowers Festival, September 2019
‘Two Lungs’ by Hivewild
Site-specific dance piece created by Katherine Maxwell of Hivewild,
presented by NOoSPHERE Arts for Kingsland Wildflowers Festival 2019.
Dancers: Gabriella Sibeko and Robyn Ayers.