After 40 years of being in the same physical location, ITP (the coveted Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University) moved from the Tisch building in Manhattan to Brooklyn. And the Cabinets of Wonder class of 2019, under the tutelage of Nancy Hechinger, and in collaboration with the Brooklyn Historical Society, has been given the opportunity to celebrate this move by preparing a proposal on an exhibition that we would like to call
“Brooklyn : More than just a neighbor”.
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We’re a team of 16 who come from these incredible backgrounds of design, engineering, software, architecture, sports, and even finance, who ventured into neighborhoods of Brooklyn.
For the last few weeks we’ve been working on the content and design of an exhibition that would highlight Brooklyn and all of what it has to offer to not just people who don’t know the borough, but also to those who do. And looking at this team we have that combines capability with expertise, the possibilities of what we can show are endless!
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The Team:
Over the course of 7 weeks, we walked, we ate, we met communities that made us see beyond what we knew. We even spoke to families that had been living there for generations and through these conversations and connections, we discovered Brooklyn’s known and unknown treasures - places, people, and their communities.
Our process began with going into the neighborhoods. We Visited many in Brooklyn but chose 8 that we felt really displayed Brooklyn now:
Greenpoint
Gowanus
Boerum Hill
Carroll Gardens
Coney Island
Vinegar Hill
Brownsville
Sunset Park
And then to learn more about everything we loved about the places, we went to Brooklyn Historical Society to understand the histories and beginnings of these neighborhoods and the people who live there -- then we came back and ideated, iterated, and prototyped.
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Mission:
Locations that are engaging and emblamatic, important sites for the communities that live in those neighborhoods, parks, restaurants, social clubs, or movie theaters and etcetera.
Our process for determining these treasures is to speak to the people who live in these areas and ask them what are the important places to them, as well as to explore and observe ourselves. Then we choose sites that we believe are interesting and engaging to our audience.
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Stories of BK’s neighborhoods and its characters, the real people who live in Brooklyn and their stories. Use audio, do our own interviews, make use of BHS oral histories collection
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We want to collaborate with community organizations and invite them into our space to run workshops and showcase their work in order to make connections between the NYU community and the Brooklyn communities that these organizations foster. We want it to make clear that NYU and its students can be a resource.
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Spatial Maps, Design and Interactives:
As an example, the neighbourhood of Carroll Gardens is explored as an exhibit:
