Gates in the Trees

About Facilitators

Known for abstract, bold, and vibrant use of color, gradients, and motifs, Shawna X draws on personal and culturally nuanced experiences to explore identity, creativity, and motherhood across painting, glass, light, and public space. Her work is about the big changes in a life, like becoming a mother, honoring the people who came before her, and growing older. Her newest work is made of dots of light. She draws them in pencil and Photoshop and animates them in TouchDesigner, building each image dot by dot so it can move and change in real time. Her permanent glass and metal installation, Cyclical Everything, is at the MTA’s Elmont station, and her work has been featured by The New Yorker, the Oscars, and Google shawna-x.com

Kat Offline is a NYC-based DJ with an affinity for expansive atmosphere and play. Her sound is wedded less to genre and more to feeling and rhythmic momentum. She has a monthly radio residency at The Lot Radio and has played at Nowadays, Bossa Nova Civic Club, Good Room, Public Records, and Sustain Release Festival.

ra.co/dj/katoffline

Objective

Prospect Park Alliance and Field Meridians are pleased to present Gates in the Trees, a new body of work and site-specific installation by artist and illustrator Shawna X. The work is both a portal and an invitation: a call to imagine, together, how we might deepen our relationship with nature while immersed in the urban forest of Prospect Park.

Building on her ongoing exploration of world-building through animation and digital pointillism, Gates in the Trees is Shawna X’s first immersive work, layering light projection with a sonic landscape, performed by Kat Offline. Abstract gates, archetypal symbols and elements found in nature are built dot by dot, then translated into light. They morph in time with the bassline of Kat Offline’s ambient soundtrack, underscoring the ephemeral and generative nature connecting all living things.

Sited at the historic Prospect Park Boathouse, the projection invites visitors to peer into the dense forest canopy, viewing Brooklyn’s Backyard in a new light. Using the landscape itself as canvas, the gates are superimposed on the trees in an ethereal, dreamlike suggestion. The forms loop and branch, rising like nervous systems and root structures, and shimmer at the threshold between states.

Special thanks to Prospect Park Alliance and Crossfire Sounds. This project was made possible by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

5:30PM Doors Open

6:15PM Performance Begins

What to Bring:

• Dress in warm layers
• A cozy beverage and snack
• A blanket to sit on

Disclaimer

This program will be hosted outside in the park. The program will begin at sunset and continue and loop until 8:30PM. You are welcome to come in and out as you please. Please wear weather-appropriate clothing and footwear for the path.