After much debate with my laziest self I schlepped out to Governors Island for a day of volunteer training for the new exhibition Plot09: This World & Nearer Ones organized by collective 'Creative TIme'.

Luckily for me the experience turned out to be very interesting and worth while. The exhibition is curated by Mark Beasley and consists of works by 19 different artists from across the globe. The location is not simply a coincidence but rather the focal point of the exhibition as many of the works were comissioned for this particular show & inspired by the island itself.

As a first time visitor to Governors Island, the pleasant, quiet & quaint, suburban feel of the island came as a surprise to me considering it's proximity to Manhattan's bustling financial district. The island gives off a sort of uninhabited, ghost-town vibe even at 3pm while there are tourists cycling around on rented bicycles. This may of course also be thanks to the dark, eery feeling of the exhibition. Though some of it is inspired by the eery-ness of the island itself many of the works focus on social problems people are being confronted with internationally.

As a new volunteer to the organization I was really pleasantly surprised. All the organizers were extremely personable as well as confident and excited about the exhibition itself.

The exhibition opens June 27th from 2-4pm and will run every weekend all summer.

Here's a link for more info:

http://www.creativetime.org/programs/archive/2009/plot09/

--Georgia Phillips-Amos