The Sunview Luncheonette is pleased to host a celebration of the second annual Plumes, a community art manifestation conceived and facilitated by Greenpoint-based artist Birgit Rathsmann (they/them), on Saturday, February 1, 2025, from 4-6 pm ET.
Plumes is a year-long creative journey that culminates In early May with a parade of costumed New Yorkers who dance their way up Berry street from the Williamsburg Bridge to Banker’s Anchor plaza, celebrating the power of community, activism, and open spaces. It’s also a celebration of the creative power of community inspired by community rituals worldwide, from Carnival in Latin America to the Perchtenlauf of Germany and Austria.
In workshops guided by Rathsmann, participants conceive and develop characters that represent aspects of everyday life in North Brooklyn, then fabricate costumes representing those characters – flocks of birds, an angry fire hydrant, a fish native to Newtown creek, the conductor of north Brooklyn’s “ghost train” to Manhattan Beach, a giant stop sign, a community free library, an abandoned photo album, and many more. On the first weekend in May, the group gathers to make its way up Berry Street, whose closure to through traffic is itself a symbol of the power of community engagement.
Rathsmann memorializes each iteration of Plumes with a publication. To mark the second annual event in 2024, they worked with the participants to make commemorative plates; the publication depicts each plate alongside a photo of the character that it represents.
The event at Sunview will be the unveiling of the plates themselves and the publication, as well as the official launch of the 2025 Plumes. Writers H Conley and Qingyuan Deng will read from the texts Rathsmann commissioned for this year’s publication. Dylan Gaulthier will make soup, which will be served alongside charcuterie and crudités.
For more information, contact Birgit Rathsmann at brischitta@gmail.com