A Walk in the Park: Learn to Love Weeds with the EPA

Discover the natural and artistic wonders of Laguna Gloria, one walk at a time!

In a time of crisis, how can nature help us explore new forms of care, for ourselves and others? Get out of your house and into your body on an experiential walk with the Environmental Performance Agency (EPA), a New York-based artist collective!

This walk will explore the weedy margins of Laguna Gloria and teach us to engage with our environment in new ways. EPA Agent Chris Kennedy will teach us through a series of movement exercises developed for the EPA’s latest project, the Multispecies Care Survey, which explores the intertwined balance of human and non-human life. Together we will investigate our relationship with local urban plants and gather site-specific data for a creative map of Laguna Gloria.

A Walk in the Park is monthly series of guided walks and creative workshops at Laguna Gloria, developed with 2021 Observer-in-Residence Ann Armstrong.

Masks are required and sturdy shoes are encouraged. Read more about our safety protocols here.
 
The Environmental Performance Agency (EPA) is an artist collective that uses artistic, social, and embodied practices to advocate for the agency of all living performers co-creating our environment, specifically through the lens of spontaneous urban plants, native or migrant. EPA Agents include Catherine Grau, andrea haenggi, Ellie Irons, Christopher Kennedy, and spontaneous urban plants. Learn more here.

Christopher Kennedy is the assistant director at the Urban Systems Lab, The New School and lecturer in the Parsons School of Design, New York. Kennedy’s research focuses on understanding the socio-ecological benefits of spontaneous urban plant communities, and the role of civic engagement in developing new approaches to environmental stewardship and nature-based resilience. Learn more here.

Ann Armstrong is Observer-in-Residence of the 2021 A Walk in the Park series. She loves sparking curiosity by developing tools and frameworks to connect people with place. She has been gathering hand-drawn maps of Austin since 2012 and is slowly building an idiosyncratic, hyper-local atlas to the city. She is also a co-founder of the Odditree Society. Along with her place-literacy work, she designs and builds tiny houses, paints murals, creates public art, and fabricates sculptures out of wood and steel.