About Brooklyn Utopias

Brooklyn Utopias is an ongoing exhibit and event series, founded in 2009 by artist and curator Katherine Gressel, in which artists, youth, activists, architects, designers and urban theorists consider differing visions of an ideal city through the “concrete” example of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Utopias? installed two simultaneous exhibits in Fall 2009, at the Old Stone House and Brooklyn Historical Society, featuring the work of over 35 artists all addressing different aspects of Brooklyn’s history and recent development. A corresponding youth exhibit at Starting Artists, Inc. invited local youth to create their own work around the exhibit theme.

In 2010, Katherine Gressel and co-curator Derek Denckla organized a second Brooklyn Utopias: Farm City show at the Old Stone House specifically around the theme of urban agriculture in Brooklyn, in conjunction with the French Insitute/Alliance Francaise’s Crossing the Line: Farm City festival.

To facilitate discussion around each show, a series of public programs in 2009 and 2010 invited architects, urban planners, and community-based organizations to dialogue with the exhibitions artists and curators–sometimes including hands-on demonstrations of different aspects of sustainable living.

A third exhibit and programming schedule  in this series, Brooklyn Utopias: Park Space, Play Space is now planned for the Old Stone House in Spring 2012.  Slated to overlap with opening ceremonies for the renovated Washington Park/J.J. Byrne Playground surrounding the House, this exhibition  invites artists to consider the history, politics, and planning surrounding public parks and recreation spaces. Visit the calls for entries page to find out how you can apply!

Visit the website for the original 2009 Brooklyn Utopias? exhibits

Visit the website for the 2010 Brooklyn Utopias: Farm City exhibit