FEAST #whOWNSpace & Member Spotlight

This coming Saturday, the FEAST project will feature two community-based projects of DSGN AGNC in Greenpoint. They will be presenting the large-scale #whOWNSpace #GRNPNT BLACKBELT project of which Phase 1 will manifest at our 59 Java St garden. Click here for FEAST details.

DSGN AGNC has been an integral part of our group from the beginning; in fact, their interest in the lot at 59 Java coincided with Stella Goodall's inquiry into possible use of the space and so we have come to share a vision with them for its future with a mixed-use agenda of mobile interactive space and traditional in-ground gardening.  DSGN AGNC is a research and design collaborative whose vision is to offer as an operational platform the concept of critical activism--that folding activism into the discourse of critical spatial and design practice opens up new possibilities to rethink the structure and scope of the design process.

DSGN AGNC is co-founded by one of our garden members, Quilian Riano, who actively provides the vision for the collaborative and their various projects.  Quilian currently teaches design and urban theory studios at Parsons The New School for Design and has taught architectural and urban design studios at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and the City College of New York.

Melissa Frost is also a member of our group and a member of the DSGN AGNC team;  other DSGN AGNC team members who serve as design consultants to our garden effort are Rena Mande, Amanda Rekemeyer, and Philip Grimaldi.