South Street Seaport Museum Announces New York Water Week Events

South Street Seaport Museum announces free New York Water Week events, held from March 18-24, 2023, to build momentum for The United Nations Water Conference from March 22-24, 2023. These programs are part of a city-wide initiative organized by the Government of the Netherlands and the City of New York to showcase game-changing water actions and solutions from across the world. This series of activities explores the role individuals, cities, and companies can play in helping the world achieve important water goals. In celebration, the Seaport Museum is hosting The Water Arch installation and a panel discussion on Water, Art, and Activism. For more information, visit seaportmuseum.org/ny-water-week-2023.

The Water Arch

March 22-April 2, 2023 from 11am-5pm | Pier 16

Come to the Seaport Museum to take part in this free hands-on art installation that highlights the ever-increasing use of clean drinking water in an intriguing and immersive way. Created by the Netherlands-based pioneer in media design, Dropstuff Media, The Water Arch is an abstraction of a classic barrel organ. Standing at the center of the piece, you turn a wheel to pump over 35 gallons of water throughout the clear pipes and receptacles to have it rain down around you, without getting you wet. The amount of water symbolizes the average volume used by a Dutch person every day--but Americans use more than double this amount of water on a daily basis!

Water, Art, and Activism

March 24, 2023 at 6:30pm | 12 Fulton Street

Join special guests René van Engelenburg, the Artistic and General Director of Dropstuff Media; Sarah Cameron Sunde, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and environmental interdisciplinary artist; and Tim Gilman-Ševčík, the Executive Director of the RETI Center, in the Seaport Museum's introduction galleries for a panel discussion that explores the importance of water and how art can serve as a conduit for activism and awareness. Together, these artists will discuss how water is essential for life, but access to clean drinking water is becoming increasingly scarcer for many people throughout the world. They will also talk through what is being done to spread awareness and protect this valuable commodity. After the program, head to Pier 16 to experience The Water Arch installation in full glow for its only night time hours.

The Water Arch is realized in collaboration with Peter de Man and Sjaak Klein Heerenbrink en Uwe Dobberstein. It is supported by Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York, and Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie and presented in partnership with Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid and the South Street Seaport Museum.