Project EATS × DOT × The Clemente

“To me, that’s one of the wonderful opportunities and challenges of what I think of as this piece of art. How to help people realize: I can make the life around me what I want.” — LINDA GOODE BRYANT

At a moment when individual, collective, and structural transformation is urgently needed, can the simple act of cultivating food hold the key? Department of Transformation, The Clemente, and Project EATS are pleased to invite you to Companion Planting, a hands-on, half-day program celebrating the power of collaboration and creativity to catalyze transformative action and provide collective nourishment at the intersection of artistic practice and food justice.Starting at the Project EATS Lower East Side farm site on the roof of the Essex Market, Companion Planting begins with an embodied invitation to mindful presence in the form of an all-levels group movement exercise led by Sofia Reeser del Rio, Curator and Associate Director of Programs at The Clemente (and yoga instructor!). Once warmed up, we’ll get our hands dirty planting, weeding, and harvesting fresh produce with guidance from the Project EATS team. To conclude, we’ll go across the street to The Clemente for lunch: a vegetarian community meal conceived by transdisciplinary artist, organizer, and chef Zacarías González, served with a side of conversation about creative practice, collective action, urban ecology, and food sovereignty.

COMPANION PLANTING

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Project EATS, Essex Market Rooftop Farm, 220 Broome Street

• 9:30–10:-00am [Mindful movement] with Sofia Reeser del Rio
• 10:00–11:30am Farm work with Tyler Berkley, Project EATS

The Clemente, 107 Suffolk Street

• 12:00–1:30pm [Community meal and conversation] with Zacarías González

Epitomized by la milpa, the traditional Mesoamerican medley of corn, beans, and squash also known as the “three sisters,” companion planting is the practice of intercropping to engender mutually beneficial relationships among diverse guilds of plants. This symbiotic interdependence—corn supporting beans to climb, beans providing nitrogen to the soil, squash providing ground cover and living mulch—is a powerful testament to a simple truth: we grow stronger when we grow together.

Organized by Sam Rauch for Department of Transformation, an artist-organized group that prototypes experimental methods for togetherness, learning, and collective healing. Companion Planting brings together two vital cultural and civic anchors of the Lower East Side: The Clemente, a multi-arts institution supporting New York City’s Latinx creative community since 1993, and Project EATS, a living installation and citywide network of small-scale, high-yield urban farms and associated programs founded by legendary artist, activist, and entrepreneur Linda Goode Bryant. Gather and grow together with us!

About Zacarías González

Zacarías González (b. 1984, Cuba) is transdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in NYC. Their practice looks at place-specific strategies for designing with life, rather than against it, particularly within the fields of agroecology, public architecture, and public health. Their work considers interconnectedness in the face of overlapping global crises, often using food as a container in which we explore our relationships through long-term participatory projects, interventions in public spaces, filmmaking, and writing.

González’s current long-term project is earth life.Their work has been supported through collaborations with: The Institute for Public Architecture, KERMESSE and Galerie Derouillon, Creative Time, The Storefront for Art and Architecture, MoMa PS1, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn Museum, Recess Art, Socrates Sculpture Park. They have previously been a visiting lecturer at The School of Visual Arts and New School University Eugene Lang College.

About Sofia Reeser del Rio

Sofía S. Reeser-del Rio is a Puerto Rican curator, scholar, multidisciplinary artist, and educator whose practice is based between Puerto Rico, Madrid, and NYC. Specializing in Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean art, she produces exhibitions that champion LGBTQ and self-identified female creatives from Puerto Rico. Her work integrates ecological working models, community wellness initiatives, and sustainable cultural production.

Sofía is Curator and Associate Director of Programs at The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center in NYC, where she leads cutting-edge digital storytelling, archival research, and innovative community gathering initiatives. As Co-Curator of Historias and Project Lead of Nueva York Chronicles, in collaboration with Libertad O. Guerra, she is redefining how Latinx narratives are collected, archived, and shared through interactive, multimedia platforms. Her visionary leadership has been recognized through multiple awards, fellowships, and residencies, underscoring her commitment to advancing knowledge justice and rethinking art, science, and civic practice as catalysts for sustainable community engagement.

About Project EATS

Project EATS is a living installation created by artist, activist, and entrepreneur Linda Goode Bryant. For fifteen years, Project EATS has been transforming vacant lots and rooftops into neighborhood-based farms supporting farm stands, pantries, prepared food, art projects, and community programs, catalyzing creativity and cultivating not just fresh produce, but opportunities for leadership, economic empowerment, and food sovereignty across New York City. The integration of Art and Food increases the use of imagination, creativity, commitment, and determination as tool for reshaping social, economic, cultural and environmental conditions towards an empowered Life. Project EATS: Art that Feeds.

About Department of TransformationDepartment of Transformation (D🌍T) is an artist-organized group founded by designer, curator, and educator Prem Krishnamurthy, that prototypes experimental methods for togetherness, learning, and collective healing. Through workshops, events, publications, exhibitions, and institutional consulting (+ karaoke!), we support others in their own processes of change. We believe that by transforming the arts, we can transform ourselves, our communities, and our world.

D🌍T is proud to have a 2025–2026 micro-residency at The Clemente.

About The Clemente

The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Education Center is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts institution rooted in the historic Lower East Side/Loisaida, where it has served as a vital cultural anchor for more than three decades. Founded on principles of artistic freedom and cultural equity, The Clemente celebrates and preserves Puerto Rican and Latinx traditions while embracing a multi-ethnic and international vision.The Clemente’s mission is to steward a vibrant, polyphonic space that amplifies diverse voices, fosters intergenerational exchange, and supports the creation of contemporary, multidisciplinary work. Through affordable studios, performance venues, and collaborative platforms, we provide essential resources to artists, small arts organizations, and independent producers who reflect the richness of New York City’s cultural landscape. Guided by the legacy of our namesake, poet and organizer Clemente Soto Vélez, we are committed to building culturally grounded, multigenerational leadership, local power, and mutuality.

Host or Publisher Department of Transformation