Join us for the Workshop, the Beer Brewing demonstration and the Opening Reception of THIRST, the third investigatory adventure of our yearlong exploration of WATER. THIRST is a participatory curatorial project exploring thirsty materials, plants, animals and people. In order to reveal the complex forces shaping our physical need and psychological desire for water, Proteus Gowanus will be transformed into a monthlong living research laboratory. [more]

Hydrogen Bonding: A Workshop in Dyeing, Felting and Water-Molecule-Making, 3-6pm, Saturday’s workshop is the first of a series of Thirstlab Workshops. This workshop’s leaders are Hope Ginsburg (artist/ educator Virginia Commonwealth University) and Laura Sansone (owner, House-Wear Design Studio/educator, Parsons The New School for Design).

DIY Homebrewing, 6pm, Chris Lovrich from Brooklyn Homebrew will demonstrate how to brew a batch of beer from one of their favorite DIY kits! So if you’re interested in learning how to use water to cook up a different kind of plant-steeped concoction, be sure to catch him in action during our Thirst Opening.

The Thirstlab Workshops will highlight the politics and pleasures surrounding Brooklyn’s waters, actively linking events in the past to our present conditions. This public platform brings together multidisciplinary artists, designers, students, scholars, chefs, filmmakers, writers, farmers, DIY makers, political activists, musicians, entrepreneurs, water sports enthusiasts and curious audience members to exchange different forms of knowledge, cultivate practical skills and share personal stories related to our use—and abuse–of local aquatic resources.

Proteus Gowanus and the Museum of Matches invite you to join us for the opening reception of The Berlin Tunnel Project, an installation inspired by a declassified CIA document describing 
a tunnel that was dug from West to East Berlin during the Cold War. The Museum of Matches, a one-room Cold War museum, occasionally invites visitors to respond to Cold War documents, photographs and memorabilia. The Berlin Tunnel Project is a collaborative installation by three artists whose countries of origin comprise the three countries involved in the Berlin Tunnel episode: Tatiana Istomina (Soviet Union), Barbara Westermann (Germany), Sasha Chavchavadze (United States).

The Berlin Tunnel

In 1954, the CIA began to dig a tunnel from West Berlin to East Berlin for the purposes of tapping into Soviet phone cables. The completed tunnel took a year to construct and was 1,476  feet long. 3,100 tons of soil was removed and the tunnel was lined with 125 tons of steel.  The KGB, however, had been informed of the project from the start by a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6) named George Blake. Most likely the KGB did not reveal that they knew about the tunnel to protect their mole. In April 1956 the KGB “discovered” the tunnel and released the information to the world press. American newspapers generally marveled that the CIA was capable of such a remarkable clandestine maneuver.

A declassified, redacted CIA document describing the tunnel can be found on the web. It describes in fascinating detail the history of the project from its inception to its completion, including intelligence derived from the project and articles in the American press after the tunnel was revealed to the public.

Cold War Cocktails will be served.

Museum of Matches is open to the public on Fridays, 3 – 6 p.m. or by appointment.