Currently Speaking: A Conversation with Mary Mattingly + Julie Reiss

Mary Mattingly will be in conversation with Julie Reiss, an art historian who specializes in contemporary art that addresses climate change. They will discuss Mattingly’s work and the role art can play in shifting perceptions around current climate issues and policies.

"I was raised in an agricultural town near Springfield, Massachusetts, where the local drinking water was contaminated by agricultural chemicals. That experience shaped my understanding of clean water as both increasingly rare and a fundamental right—and it deepened my resolve to protect it. Since 2001, I’ve lived in New York City, creating sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and water. My work often takes the form of participatory public projects rooted in care, ecological awareness, and collective imagining." - Mary Mattingly

Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores ecological relationships through sculptural ecosystems, performative installations, and research-based collaborations. Rooted in a deep inquiry into urban ecology and interdependence, her work addresses urgent issues around water, food systems, and climate adaptation. Her public projects, such as Swale, a floating food forest in New York City’s waterways; Waterpod, a self-sufficient living structure on a barge; and the Flock House Project, a series of mobile habitats, reimagine civic infrastructure through community engagement and poetic provocation.

Dr. Julie Reiss is an art historian and critic with a focus on the role artists can play in social change. She is the editor of the anthology, Art, Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene. A pioneering scholar in the field of Installation art, she is the author of From Margin to Center: The Spaces of Installation Art. In 2019 she organized the symposium “The Role of Art in the Environmental Crisis” held at Christie’s Education, and was the guest critic on the same theme for The Brooklyn Rail. She has since lectured and taught extensively on art and climate. Julie teaches courses on Art and Sustainability at Columbia University and has been a visiting critic to Columbia’s MFA program. She is currently working with the Harpo Foundation as the editor of a book about its founder, Ed Levine. Previously she was director of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Market, an MA program at Christie’s Education. Julie earned a Ph.D. in art history from the CUNY Graduate Center.

Admission is free and open to all.