A gaggle present on an island a ship trip away from Manhattan is unlikely to draw the identical consideration as flashier happenings on the town’s busy fall artwork calendar, but their work isn’t any much less deserving of it. The Works on Water (WoW) Triennial on the Arts Middle at Governors Island, now in its third iteration, has been led since 2017 by a resourceful group of artists and curators (Emily Blumenfeld, Carolyn Corridor, sTo Len, Clarinda Mac Low, Nancy Nowacek, and Sarah Cameron Sunde, at current). The collective stays oriented towards humble grassroots initiatives, reminiscent of efficiency artist Nora Almeida’s and videographer iki nakagawa’s collaborative multimedia explorations of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Creek.
This and different initiatives are compelling in their very own proper, however what stands out about their 2025 triennial is what number of artists, and even artworks, have returned from the primary two editions. This obvious repetitiveness could seem unusual provided that many bi- and triennials aspire to be cultural standing updates. However WoW’s willingness to revisit initiatives signifies that it values artwork for its depth and persistence reasonably than the way it units or suits traits.
That commendable dedication is clear in “Walking the Edge” (2020–25), a preliminary model of which appeared within the earlier WoW triennial and which right here seems as a dense grid of shoreline images. The images doc an formidable durational feat: From Might to October 2025, in collaboration with Tradition Push and NYC’s Division of Metropolis Planning, WoW members are main walks masking the town’s complete 520 miles of shoreline.
Set up view of Elizabeth Velazquez, “Calling Forth The Waters that Surround Us” (2025)
Video documentation of Sarah Cameron Sunde’s “36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea” (2013–22) — during which the artist and native members stand in coastal waters for one full tidal cycle at websites all over the world — additionally makes a repeat look. Sunde’s efficiency, oriented towards deep time, patiently bears witness to the accelerating charge of sea stage rise. The horizon-long Nice Lakes vistas in Jana Harper’s quick video, “Song for Water” (2025), likewise function in a pensive, virtually oracular, register.
It’s not shocking that Water Artwork, as WoW calls it, would take the lengthy view of issues, given the philosophical depth related to its topic. However this triennial’s design emphasizes contemplative aesthetic gestures over the nitty-gritty logistics of its neighborhood initiatives, from sTo Len’s 30-foot-long gomitaku — a Japanese portmanteau that means “trash impression” — mono print that undulates throughout the gallery like a chic serpent (“Impressions for Coastal Constellation Alignment: Potomac River, Virginia,” 2020), to the floor-to-ceiling netting and cotton saris that Elizabeth Velazquez and Monica Jahan Bose use, respectively, to demarcate round areas (“Calling Forth The Waters That Surround Us” and “Darchira River,” each 2025).
Nonetheless counterintuitive emphasizing aesthetics over logistics may sound, it constitutes an efficient resolution to the issue of learn how to translate public and social follow artwork right into a gallery setting. The triennial — particularly the moody basement gallery suffused with a scent by fragrance maker Frank Bloem (“Zeelucht (A Perfume from Forty Smells of the North Sea),” 2021) — jogged my memory of the dramatic set up environments on this summer time’s inaugural Sky Excessive Farm biennial, an eco-minded Hudson Valley present. However whereas the Sky Excessive installations evince showmanship, WoW’s installations evince introspection. No one within the group has given up on doing the work — fairly the opposite — however there’s an ambient sense that, given what has and hasn’t modified on the planet since 2017, progress’s horizon could be additional off than one would hope.
Element view of Works on Water, “Walking the Edge” (2020–25)
Set up view of sTo Len, “Impressions for Coastal Constellation Alignment: Potomac River, Virginia” (2020)
Set up view of Artwork Jones, “dissolving/removing” (2025)
Set up view of Marina Zurkow, “Slurb” (2009), video
Jana Harper, “Music for the Water (2025)
The Works on Water 2025 Triennial continues on the Arts Middle of Governors Island (110 Andes Highway, Manhattan) by October 26. The exhibition was curated by Emily Blumenfeld and Kendal Henry with the Works on Water workforce (Carolyn Corridor, sTo Len, Clarinda Mac Low, Nancy Nowacek, and Sarah Cameron Sunde).
