Nest

Through the lens of a bird, Nest intertwines livability within the city while questioning the day-to-day support of our governance and wellbeing. With live improvised accompaniment on upright bass from Christiaan van Voorst van Beest, the music evokes the sounds of nature as it struggles within its urban environment. Mirroring the building of a nest, the performance pushes moments of quiet and stillness while surrounded by cityscape.

Performance Dates: September 13, 2020 in Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY.

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Livability refers to the communities quality of life - varying from economic wealth, a well-rounded education, equality, natural environments, and much more. As of right now, I personally am very disappointed in New York City. There are a handful of organizations that are trying their hardest to make change, but then when studying cities like Singapore and Denmark, I realize how far behind we are for a sustainable city.

The first image that appears when you google “urban birds nest” is a nest littered with cigarette butts. This, for me, is not surprising at all. I have been fortunate enough to interact with the city for several years now, which also means I have witnessed hundreds of residents tossing their cigarettes into the street runoff while continuing to speed walk to their next meeting or gig. Moments like this stem from the past New York where we were so concerned with the individual self. I hope New York is morphing into a future where we fight for our community and leave no one behind.

Like much of my community, the wildlife has migrated elsewhere. The city has drove away a large amount of our wild animals and people.

But why do cities need wildlife?

Our communities work in a system, a system that is interrelated in a beautiful, sometimes chaotic, nonlinear web. Urban wildlife is an important part of this system through cause and effect feedback loops. For example - in order to have clean drinking water you need clear water systems which need healthy aquatic life which needs healthy bird life, and the birds need healthy air quality in order to nest, hunt, and migrate, and what effects our air quality…? infrastructure.

However, there is a giant disconnect between information and availability. Scientist have a majority of the facts to show us the importance of creating sustainable cities, cities that develop symbiotic relationships between water and plant systems to develop carbon neutral buildings that provide housing for people of low income, local food, and a sanctuary for wildlife. Here is a video example of how Singapore is doing exactly that.

Share the facts through storytelling and empathy

What scientists are missing though is the interrelationship of caring. Caring comes from the artists and the educators. Caring comes from humility. But what if these worlds became symbiotic, like the natural ecosystems? We need collaboration in order to make our cities sustainable. We need the scientists, artists, designers, educators, architects, entrepreneurs, botanists, and all other fields to listen and learn from one another to create a higher quality of life for our communities.

We feel the loneliness of the birds that have stayed and watched their flock leave for wilder places. But, also like the birds, we will only be able to live like this for so long until our physical and mental health drastically takes a toll. The birds have tried to adapt and become resilient to keep their home. They build nest in between railings and scaffolding. Try to teach their young how to fly during rush hour. Pick up McDonalds fries for food.

If we watch our wildlife more we can create parallels to our lives. We can allow nature to teach us moral lessons like we did when we were children.

A dear mentor of mine once said “Instead of running away from the problems of your country, how can you help to inspire change within your country.” If you live in an urban environment, what changes can you make to help push your city to a sustainable, carbon net zero, way of life?