The Spliced City

I was able to visit THE ARC at Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus just before it closes at the end of August. This is a wonderful group exhibit of animal sculptures by many different artists that invites you to encounter 90 different nonhuman creatures of vastly different shapes and materials, expertly scattered across (or sometimes hidden in niches in the wall away from) the main floor of this historic, derelict power-station-turned-cultural-hub.

I also spotted a forlorn canine dragged about the vast space by her human owner. She wasn’t so sure where or if she fit in:

This past Saturday, the entire building was abuzz with additional creative activity during “DELUGE DAY“:

“Part festival, part symposium, part community ritual, this day-long gathering brings together artists, environmentalists, scientists, storytellers, performers, and neighbors to explore what animals might teach us about living through an age of profound change.”

I caught part of the second storytelling panel on local climate resilience and briefly met up with an old friend in the Loft space where a giant tortoise was allowed to wander about while kids, teens, and adults crafted all manner of imaginative animal puppets from materials provided by the Boxcutter Collective. Sadly, we did not have time to stay for the Wild Souls Afterparty, the “parade and strange ritual to resist the imminent collapse of civilization” led by the collective later in the afternoon.

Once back outside, a short walk across the Carroll Street bridge brought me into the heart of the Gowanus Canal waterfront. Following an 82-acre aggressive rezoning in 2021, this part of Brooklyn is completely unrecognizable to anyone who last visited the area 5-10 years ago. It’s hypergentrification on steroids, designed to accommodate up to 9,000 additional housing units along the still-rather-toxic canal in the next ten years.

Considered to be one of the city’s “most ambitious and most fraught” megaprojects, the ongoing redevelopment in this area is turning this highly polluted superfund area into Brooklyn’s latest glitzy, amenity-rich gentrification zone, and the vote on whether this is a good or a bad thing is apparently still out (or, frankly, it just depends on where you stand on this sort of frantic upzoning policy…).

I also wasn’t quite done with the deluge-theme for the day. Some local reminders of urban flooding remain inscribed on the neighborhood’s walls:

Intrigued, I got out my phone to learn more. The project website is easy enough to find and provides this pithy, lovely summary:

“Created by Brooklyn-based artist Tiffany Baker, this multi-site mural installation turns the voices of Gowanus residents into public art and illustrates their experiences with flooding in the neighborhood.

To create The Dear Neighbor Project, Tiffany connected with community leaders, local organizations, business owners, and residents to learn more about the impact of flooding in Gowanus. She then organized interviews with residents about their personal experiences with flooding, ranging from long-time residents to newer arrivals, and middle schoolers to older adults.

Her murals illustrate and directly quote from these residents’ stories — sharing their experiences, advice, and stories of community support during flood events. An audio archive of their stories lives permanently at dearneighborproject.com.”

This is exceedingly timely work — flood risk is one of THE most obvious and urgent environmental dangers facing the city – and the Gowanus neighborhood in particular. New York City experienced two significant urban flooding events in July 2026 alone. Some real-time monitoring is available, and some local blogs provided further information about how Gowanus residents needed to prepare for the worst; others focused on the general lack of information about sewer system performance.

Encountering some local rock pigeons on Smith Street while thrifting was a nice way to continue the urban nature-themed afternoon. Funny enough, there was once again a single white bird sitting slightly apart from the rest.

The rest of the day remained sunny – the skies did not open until late in the evening. But that very night, parts of the city flooded once again…

Lucky for me, the rainstorms subsided early enough on the next day that my 3-Bridges run with the New York Flyers turned from the feared deluge-ful slog into a thoroughly delightful affair…

It was great to be running parts of the Brooklyn Greenway, especially along Flushing and Kent and along the Navy Yard area, with my knowledgeable urbanist runner friends – and there is so much more to be said about the Greenway as a flood resiliency project… But that is a whole other blog for another day…