Thursday Jun 13, 2024
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
POWERHOUSE Arena
28 Adams Street (Corner of Adams & Water Street across from the Archway)
Brooklyn , NY
11201
POSTPONED – NEW DATE COMING SOON
Come celebrate Pigeon Appreciation Day, the date we show our love, admiration, and respect to the harmonious bird, with the launch of The New York Pigeon. June 13th marks death of a very vigilant and brave carrier pigeon Cher Ami, who saved more than 200 American lives by flying 25 km during WWI, and POWERHOUSE Arena is excited to honor this day with this book that’s a beautiful tribute to pigeons.
About the Book.
The New York Pigeon reveals the unexpected beauty of the omnipresent pigeon as if Vogue devoted its pages to birds, not fashion models. In spite of pigeons’ ubiquity in New York and other cities, we never really see them closely and know very little about their function in the urban ecosystem. This book brings to light the intriguing history, behavior, and splendor of a bird so often overlooked.
While The New York Pigeon is primarily a photography book, it also tells the five-thousand-year story of the feral pigeon. Why are pigeons so successful in cities and not in the countryside? Why do they have such diverse plumage? How have pigeons adapted to survive on almost any food? Why are pigeons able to fly up to 500 miles per day but rarely do? How did Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner teach pigeons to do complicated tasks, from tracking missile targets to recognizing individual human faces? Why can pigeons see in the ultraviolet light spectrum, and why is half of their brain used for visual perception?
The second edition of The New York Pigeon, with its fresh portraiture and new essay from Catherine Quayle of the Wild Bird Fund, presents dramatic, hyper-real studio portraits capturing the personalities, expressiveness, glorious feather iridescence, and deeply hued eyes of the New York pigeon.
About the Author.
Andrew Garn is a native New Yorker who grew up surrounded by pigeons and has photographed, rehabilitated, and observed Columba Livia since 2008, when he first exhibited photographs, video installations, and sculptures of pigeons at A.M. Richard Fine Art in Brooklyn, NY. Documenting the entire spectrum of development, including full-grown pigeons, newborns, babies and “squeakers,” he has grown to love these birds.
Garn is a fine art and editorial photographer whose work has been widely exhibited and appeared in the pages of numerous magazines including the New York Times magazine, New York Magazine, Nat Geo, Fortune, Forbes, Interview, Vogue, Vibe, Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, French Photo, and Elle Décor. He is also the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Graham Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the J.M. Kaplan Fund, among others.
About the Moderators.
