RU Exhibition: Mural by Joaquin Torres Zavaleta (a.k.a. Bater) at City Reliquary Museum

Saturday, June 29, 1 pm-6 pm
Location: City Reliquary
370 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Admission: suggested donation

Please join us for a great day of art and music as we unveil the newest mural work by RU artist Joaquin Torres Zavaleta created in partnership with the City Reliquary Museum.

The City Reliquary Museum is home to New York’s many histories, the multiple, interweaving narratives that make up this city we call home. This summer the museum is partnering with Residency Unlimited by inviting the Argentinian RU artist Joaquin Torres Zavaleta to create a mural in its backyard, celebrating some of the NYC plants and birds that came from other countries. As these species made their homes here they transformed the urban environment. Some even became local icons, like the ever-present pigeon. Joaquin’s mural asks us to think about migration, settlement, and the ways that cultural exchange is embedded in our cityscapes. We are excited to welcome these birds to our backyard and to highlight how immigration continues to enrich and strengthen our city.

In his research process, Zavaleta read extensively about the American Acclimatization Society founded in the late 19th century, a group dedicated to the exchange and introduction of plants and animals from one part of the world to another. One of their actions was to release 60 starlings in Central Park as an attempt to introduce all the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare to North America.

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Images from the unveiling event at The City Reliquary Museum on June 29,2019.

Joaquin Torres Zavaleta (a.k.a. Bater) is an artist and muralist based in Buenos Aires whose aim is to re-introduce nature into cities as a healing factor to mind and body. He has participated in and organized numerous street art festivals. He is also the founding member and Artistic Director of “Asociación Estilo Libre”, a not for profit in Buenos Aires that creates brings together various municipalities to serve through murals under-served communities, shantytowns, community sports centers, and other public spaces.