According to Figment NYC:

FIGMENT is an explosion of creative energy. It’s a free, annual celebration of participatory art and culture where everything is possible. For one weekend this summer, it will transforms Roosevelt Island into a large-scale collaborative artwork – and then it’s gone

Join us this weekend, rain-or-shine, for two full days of participatory art on Roosevelt Island!

EVENT DETAILS:

When:Saturday, June 1st 10AM-10PM Sunday, June 2nd, 10am-6pm
Note: The event is rain-or-shine.

Where:Roosevelt Island at Lighthouse park, Good Shepard and Manhattan Park Building

What: We will have over 120 participatory artinstallations! Click here to see the full list of this year’s artwork and activities.
Transportation: We strongly encourage attendees to travel by mass transit using the (F)Train, Ferry, Air Tram or Bike/Walking over the Roosevelt Island Bridge.Parking is limited and vehicles may be turned away.Transportation Options Here.*
*Please note that the island is very walkable, bike friendly, and offers a FREE Red Bus

How Much:FREE! FIGMENT is a free, non-profit event but tickets are required.Visit this link to RSVP
What to Bring:Visit this link for a full list of items to bring along with you this weekend, including water, food, sun protection, and pups!

Among the 120 Participatory Art installations are several created by or with Roosevelt Islanders.

For example, Green Roosevelt Island Neighbors (GRIN) founder Anthony Longo founder is working with the BIBLIOPHYTE / Seeds to Soil &Cybernetics Library installation.


According to Mr. Longo:

GRIN invites you to join us at the Bibliophyte Garden Library by the Labyrinth on the Rivercross Lawn. Saturday 6/1 at 1:00 PM. Stop by as we welcome Figment to RI. Tell them what you think makes Roosevelt Island great. We can show them what weve done to make Roosevelt Island Green and Sustainable so far. Maybe even make a few plans for the future.

If you find yourself up North by Lighthouse Park, we will be turning some spinning composters into Fully Functional Figment art pieces. We may rescue a few banana peels while were at it.

Drop by either spot anytime, all weekend. Kind words and clever ideas are especially welcomed.

Also check out Thom Heyer & Friends/The Roosevelt Island Oral History Project – “What’s the ‘T’, Miss Roosevelt?”:

In 1957 famed singer & songwriter, Alberta Hunter decided to give up her musical career to pursue nursing. She “reduced” her age, “invented” a high school diploma & enrolled in nursing school. She became a nurse at Goldwater Memorial Hospital & moved to Roosevelt Island for the next 20 years until forced to retire in 1977. She then returned to singing with regular gigs in the West Village, until her death in 1984. Hunter, a black woman, lived to be 89 years old.

In 1927 famed entertainer, Mae West was sentenced to 10 days in prison at the women’s workhouse on Roosevelt Island on charges of public obscenity for her play “Sex” on Broadway. She served 8 out of 10 of those days & was famously allowed to wear her silk panties instead of the scratchy prison-issue undergarments. West, a white woman, lived to be 87 years old.

What conversations might these 2 women have had IF they had met? Two people representing Ms. Hunter & Ms. West will sit at a small table sipping tea & telling the “T” (“truth” or “tales”) about their lives through song & stories & readings. They will encourage questions & participation from visitors. They may hang laundry cut-outs on a clothesline on which visitors may write or paint stories encouraging the importance of oral/living histories.

And Niti Parik’s HAPPYCardboards Collective:

I am interested in the ways that design-based learning activities {specially physical interactive prototypes} -support the development of computational thinking in people of all ages. Through the Art Piece for Figment Art I would like to create a series of objects from re-cycled materials which will be up-cycled through design.

And Common Man Musicals , Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance The Monkey King

The creators of a new musical, “The Monkey King”, invite you to experience this fresh theatrical retelling of an ancient Chinese legend. In this modern fairytale, we ask the timely question: WHAT IF THE MONKEY KING WAS BORN… A GIRL!?!?

And Coler Hospital’s OPEN DOORS NYC CLUB OPEN DOORS

Step inside the red door and meet the Reality Poets. OPEN DOORS members use storytelling, hip-hop and spoken word to challenge audiences to combat the injustice that breeds violence in our cities.

And Victoria Thorson Interactive Wood Sculptures:

3 Finished carved and constructed wood sculptures intended to be touched and recomposed, made of 3 different types of wood spalted maple, cherry, and basswood.

Click here for all of the Figment NYC artists and installations at the 2019 event on Roosevelt Island. Make sure to get your free ticket too. Have a great time.