Alicia Mersy Premieres NYC Wisdom, a New Short Film Commissioned by The High Line, on September 10

Alicia Mersy, NYC Wisdom, 2024 (still). Video still courtesy of the artist.

Opening Night for the Film Includes a Talk with the Artist and Ali Rosa-Salas

The High Line announced the upcoming world premiere of NYC Wisdom, a new film by Alicia Mersy, commissioned by the High Line as the third High Line Originals film. Using playful animation and video game aesthetics, NYC Wisdom captures deeply-felt, intimate learnings as expressed by everyday New Yorkers, a tribute to the unique opportunities for connection and community that exist in the city. The film’s premiere will be marked on September 10 at 6:30pm with a conversation between Mersy and Ali Rosa-Salas, Vice President of Visual and Performing Arts of Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street Settlement. NYC Wisdom will screen daily on a loop, starting at 5pm each evening, on the High Line in the covered passage at 14th Street, through November 12, 2024.

“Alicia Mersy’s new film commission for the High Line is a poignant reflection on the untapped healing power grid of New York,” said Taylor Zakarin, associate curator of High Line Art, who organized the film’s commission and exhibition. “NYC Wisdom is perfectly at home on the High Line, a setting that echoes the city lights, sounds, and energy of happenstance connections Mersy so affectingly depicts.”

NYC Wisdom is the High Line’s third commision for High Line Originals, a program supporting artists to create new video artworks. Born out of Mersy’s video practice, in which the camera becomes a catalyst for interpersonal connection, NYC Wisdom began as Mersy started to spontaneously film the “wisdom” she encountered around the city—building relationships with and interviewing construction workers, subway performers, halal food truck owners, knitters in the park, and characters on the street. NYC Wisdom ties together years of this footage, as the subjects share what brings them happiness, positivity, and energy.

In NYC Wisdom, Mersy’s role as a seeker of wisdom is embodied by an animated butterfly drone that soars between buildings and down avenues, searching for these “teachers” as the artist affectionately calls them, or “high vibration individuals,” as one subject of the film suggests. The viewer takes on the perspective of the butterfly, and of Mersy, scanning the city and its inhabitants through a vibrant purple viewfinder to detect and locate salient moments of street wisdom. The shaky, handheld nature of the footage following subjects as they walk, the close-cropped shots of their hands, and the occasional presence of the artist’s voice from behind the camera all reinforce the sense that we, as viewers, are intimately along for the ride.

As we continue to receive these teachings, our butterfly avatar gains energy, indicated by a “health bar”—a tool often used in video games to indicate the amount of life or energy one has remaining. In these game environments, the health bar can be impacted positively or negatively based on your actions and interactions. By adopting this concept, and applying it to our real-world interactions, Mersy offers a poignant reflection on healing, self-actualization, and what it means to survive and thrive in New York City, and demonstrates the contagious energy that comes from forging connection, uplifting others, and being lifted up.

Mersy, whose practice includes photography, video, installation, and spiritual exploration, often uses the camera as a conduit for understanding others while creating space for conversation, collaboration, and education. She examines repressive social and political structures, self-representation, and technology as a means to forge new pathways of understanding between unlikely parties. In this vein, her work becomes a locus for healing and personal and collective peace, where free spirits, radicals, revolutionaries, artists, and the audience come together to build solidarity and understanding.

The High Line will premiere NYC Wisdom with a conversation between the artist and Ali Rosa-Salas, independent curator and Vice President of Visual and Performing Arts of Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street Settlement. The screening and conversation will be held on September 10, 2024 at 6:30pm in the covered passage at 14th Street on the High Line. The event is free and open to the public; RSVP at thehighline.org.

Part of the High Line Channel video and short film program, High Line Originals is High Line Art’s commissioning format for realizing new video artworks. Every two years, High Line Art commissions one artist or collaborative group to produce a new work of video art to premiere on Channel. High Line Originals launched in 2019 with Tourmaline’s Salacia, followed in 2021 by Onyeka Igwe’s The Miracle on George Green. As the only park in New York City with a year-round multimedia public art program, the High Line is able to present new commissions of film and video work to its millions of visitors, thereby expanding the reach of today’s contemporary artists and filmmakers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Alicia Mersy (b. 1988, Montreal, Canada) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Mersy has presented solo exhibitions at Larrie, New York, New York (2019) and Abrons Art Center, New York, New York (2019). Her work has been featured in group exhibitions including Soho House Art Basel, Miami, Florida (2022); Feel House Ugg, New York, New York (2022); Projet Casa, Montreal, Canada (2022); Art Souterrain, Montreal, Canada (2022); UQ Art Museum, Queensland, Australia (2022); Larrie, New York, New York (2021); Le Cinema Club, Online (2021); Abrons Arts Center, New York, New York (2020); Bitforms, New York, New York (2020); Now Instant Image Hall, Los Angeles, California (2020); Noorderlicht International Photo Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2020); and Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland (2018). She has participated in residencies and received grants such as the Red Bull Artist Micro Grants, USA (2020); Abrons Art Center AIRspace Residency, New York, New York (2020); FCA Emergency Grants COVID-19 Fund, USA (2020); Parent Artist Relief Fund, USA (2020); and Pioneer Works Technology Residency, Brooklyn, New York (2019).

SUPPORT
Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and Charina Endowment Fund.

High Line Art is supported, in part, with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Adrienne Adams.

ABOUT HIGH LINE ART
Founded in 2009, High Line Art commissions and produces a wide array of artworks on the High Line, including site-specific commissions, exhibitions, performances, video programs, and a series of billboard interventions. Led by Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art, and presented by the High Line, the art program invites artists to think of creative ways to engage with the unique architecture, history, and design of the park, and to foster a productive dialogue with the surrounding neighborhood and urban landscape.

For more information on High Line Art, please visit thehighline.org/art.

ABOUT THE HIGH LINE
The High Line is both a nonprofit organization and a public park on the West Side of Manhattan. Through our work with communities on and off the High Line, we’re devoted to reimagining public spaces to create connected, healthy neighborhoods and cities.

Built on a historic, elevated rail line, the High Line was always intended to be more than a park. You can walk through the gardens, view art, experience a performance, enjoy food or beverage, or connect with friends and neighbors—all while enjoying a unique perspective of New York City.

Nearly 100% of our annual budget comes through donations. The High Line is owned by the City of New York and we operate under a license agreement with NYC Parks.

For more information, visit thehighline.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

@HighLineArtNYC @aliciamersy