Artist Ezra Wube Showcases the Beauty of Four Cities in Project Ecopolis, a Short Film Created in Collaboration with Four High Line Network Members

Ezra Wube, dzidzəlalič, 2024 (still). Part of PROJECT ECOPOLIS, a Joint Art Initiative of the High Line Network. Courtesy of the artist.

The stop-motion film premieres in New York City on November 18, followed by a panel featuring speakers from the Englewood Agro-Eco District (Chicago, IL), Buffalo Bayou (Houston, TX), Waterfront Park (Seattle, WA), and the High Line (New York, NY)

Continuing his ongoing exploration of how we conceive of and exist within our cities and green spaces, mixed media artist Ezra Wube presents PROJECT ECOPOLIS, a compilation of four stop-motion short films commissioned as the second Joint Art Initiative for the High Line Network. PROJECT ECOPOLIS premieres in New York City on November 18, 2024 at 6pm with a screening and panel event, and will be on view daily on the High Line through January 7, 2025, before traveling to four other High Line Network public spaces across the United States.

Led by the High Line, the High Line Network is a peer-to-peer group of infrastructure reuse projects across North America, and Wube’s film project is the second commission for its Joint Art Initiative, a program that explores how Network members can use public art to inspire civic discourse and deepen connections among the communities surrounding Network projects. For PROJECT ECOPOLIS, Wube collaborated with the High Line and three other High Line Network partners—Englewood Agro-Eco District (Chicago, Illinois), Buffalo Bayou (Houston, Texas), and Waterfront Park (Seattle, Washington) to produce a stop-motion short film inspired by each site.

Wube visited each organization and led its local community of students, older adults, local artists, and park visitors in art-making workshops inspired by their city. The resulting works serve as joyful portraits of places: cutouts of cars, people, and animals shift around notable buildings, beloved parks, and major streets. Wube and the community participants capture the essence of each location and the pressing issues they face, underscoring the power of collective storytelling and prompting reflection on the intricate relationship between people, urban infrastructure, and ecology.

“I truly enjoyed the opportunity to work with the High Line Network to create short city portrait films that were conceived, developed, and realized collectively with each city’s community, drawing on their lived experiences and rich knowledge,” said artist Ezra Wube. “In a way, the collaged, mixed-media approach reflects the unique voices of the participants, allowing a cross-pollination of ideas to represent what matters to them most. I hope PROJECT ECOPOLIS inspires further connections and conversations within and across cities and communities.”

The public premiere presentation of PROJECT ECOPOLIS will take place on November 18, 2024, at 6pm, in the theater of 150 West 17th Street, New York (the former Rubin Museum). The event will also be Livestreamed; registration for the Livestream can be found at this link. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Wube moderated by Gabriella Malavé, Programs Manager, Administration & Special Projects at High Line, featuring representatives of the participating High Line Network partners: Karen Farber, Vice President of External Affairs, Buffalo Bayou Partnership; Jordan Remington, Programs Manager, Curator of Indigenous Programs Friends of Waterfront Park; Gloria I. Rivera, Resident Artist, Grow Greater Englewood; and Tanya Ward, Cultural Steward, Grow Greater Englewood.

PROJECT ECOPOLIS will tour the participating sites in 2024 and 2025, serving as a traveling exhibition to inspire conversations, forge connections, and celebrate community resilience. The films will first be presented in New York City on the High Line, as part of the High Line Channels video and film program, screening daily, on a loop, from 5pm until park close November 18, 2024 through January 7, 2025. More information can be found online at projectecopolis. highlinenetwork.org.

Wube creates lively mixed media animations made from paintings, collage, objects, and paper cutouts that narrate scenes of daily urban life across Brooklyn, Addis Ababa, and other cities around the world. Mixing audio recordings of the clamoring sounds of the places he profiles with shifting, cumulative collages, Wube brings to the fore the spirit of different locations.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ezra Wube (b. 1980, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He has held recent solo exhibitions at notable institutions, including the Yeh Art Gallery, Queens, New York (2023); Time Square Midnight Moment, New York, New York (2021); the High Line, New York, New York (2020); Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia (2018); Museum of the Moving Image, Queens, New York (2017); Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia (2016); and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (2011). Notable group exhibitions include The Myth of Normal, MassArt Art Museum, Boston, Massachusetts (2023); This Place We Once Remembered, Wave Hill, Bronx, New York (2023); Entrelacs, La Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France (2022); Where Do We Stand? The Drawing Center, New York, New York (2017); Video Studio: Meeting Points, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York (2016 – 2017); and Key Frames, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York (2014). He has participated in prestigious international art exhibitions, including the Biennale d’Architecture d’Orléans, Orléans, France (2019); the Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea (2018); the 21st Contemporary Art Biennial. Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); and Bronx Calling: The Third AIM Biennial, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York (2015). Wube has received numerous awards and residencies, including the Wassaic Project Residency, Wassaic, New York (2024); Michael Richards Visual Arts Award, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York (2022); and the Smack Mellon Residency Program, Brooklyn, New York (2020). Additional notable recognitions include residencies at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, New York (2019), and the Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, Vermont (2016). He was also the recipient of the Emerging Artist Grant Award from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation (2015) and the Van Lier Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts (2013).

ABOUT THE HIGH LINE NETWORK

The High Line Network is a group of infrastructure reuse projects—and the people who help them come to life. As cities become denser and land for traditional parks becomes more scarce, residents are finding creative ways to bring greenspace to their neighborhoods. Projects in the High Line Network transform underutilized infrastructure into new urban landscapes. Redefining what a park can be, these hybrid spaces are also public squares, open-air museums, botanical gardens, social service organizations, walkways, transit corridors, and more.

For more information about the High Line Network, please visit network.thehighline.org.

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, X, Instagram.

SUPPORT

The High Line Network is made possible by the founding support of The JPB Foundation.

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. High Line Accessibility is also supported, in part, by the New York City Council, with special thanks to Council Member Erik Bottcher.

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