PORT CITIES NYC, was the first movement of a global art journey.  In May 2016, audiences met at Pier 11 in the Financial District, ferried across the harbor accompanied by an original soundscape, docked in Red Hook’s working port, and boarded The Waterfront Museum Barge for a multimedia performance exploring the ghosts of Wall Street and systemic violence from Slavery to today. 
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PORT CITIES NYC is a ghost story about inheritance. A haunting. An origin story. 
Katie has felt haunted since she was a little girl. Knowing something about her family history, she goes in search of answers beyond the hallway of her childhood home.  Examining her own hands and those of her family, her lover, and the city that birthed her, she comes face to face what what scares her most. 
Using the cult like popularity of The Settler’s of Catan and turning it on its head, PORT CITIES NY plays its own “Settlers of Manahatta”. An intimate, ironic and sometimes disturbing look into old New York and New Amsterdam . Here Katie’s ancestors traded, bought, sold and helped build a wall that would continue to divide many. 
Reckoning with family legacy, a cross racial relationship, and cycles of violence that seem to be visible on the streets of Baltimore, Ferguson and beyond, Katie must navigate through the game that has given her more playing cards than most. If she can't stop the loop, who can? And will everyone lose in the end?
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PORT CITIES is a global performance art project linking five cities along 17th century Dutch trade routes. From Perth Australia to Cape Town South Africa, from Amsterdam and New York City to the old port of Jakarta, each city will host a unique project exploring our interconnected heritage and its legacy.

PORT CITIES events will:
  • be presented on or nearby the city’s port
  • explore the city’s connection to Dutch trade route history and its unique location on the route
  • comprise a team of local and international collaborators
  • include movement particular to the city (either through theme, experience, or dance)
Local myths, legends, and folklores will be explored against the backdrop of contemporary issues. The sum of all five cities will be documented as an interactive mapping space both on this website and within a gallery,   as a project in five movements, like an opera.