Led by Carol Becker, Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts, The Year of Water was a university-wide initiative focusing on water in all of its social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental complexities. Featuring presentations by Olafur Eliasson, the Bunkuaneyuman Communications Collective, Paola Antonelli, and water activists Jim Olson and Nadia Gaber; a daylong symposium on poetry and water led by Dorothea Lasky; screenings of water-related films for families and children; and WATERLICHT NYC, the immersive, site-specific installation that drew nearly 10,000 people to the plaza of the Lenfest Center for the Arts over three nights.
“Artists, writers, and thinkers working globally in multiple creative forms are deeply involved in issues surrounding water and climate change. It is exciting for the School of the Arts to spearhead the Year of Water and to play a central role in convening the institutes, schools, and programs at Columbia engaged in research and action around these concerns.”
–Carol Becker
“It’s the Year of Water,” by Eve Glasberg. Columbia News. September 26, 2019.
The School of the Arts’ Plastic Bottle-Free Pledge
Download the program for The Wild I: An Exploration of Water and Poetry