FIGMENT NYC is back this weekend to transform Governors Island into an artsy interactive wonderful. A volunteer-driven, corporate sponsorship-free event, FIGMENT NYC encourages artists to come up with activities for the weekend that engage, excite and inspire. 

This year, the two-day fete plays host to over 130 projects. Visitors may find themselves talking to trees or having their fortune told by an artificially intelligent robot. Artist Nick Kozak is setting up a Recognition Tent where people can register to be Citizens of the Earth, and the NaNach Spirit Party Van is going to be spreading joy throughout the island. Aqua Attack! is back, for those who want to go head-to-head with someone armed with super soaked plush toys. There’s also The Chase, a high tech game of hide and seek with free ice cream, Guerrilla Science’s Oobleck Olympics, and a performance by BatalaNYC, the all-women’s AfroBrazilian Samba Reggae drumming band. 

Billion Oyster Pavilion by BanG Studio, Brooklyn (©2014 BanG Studio)

Always a spectacle at FIGMENT is the winning design of the annual City of Dreams Pavilion Competition. For 2015, since the jury was deadlocked, two pavilions are being constructed: Billion Oyster Pavilion by BanG Studio of New York City (pictured above), and Organic Growth by Izaskun Chinchilla Architects of Madrid and London (pictured at right). BanG Studio’s project is grounded in local history and focuses on the benefits of growing new oyster beds in New York Harbor, while Organic Growth Pavilion draws attention to the amount of waste in our landfills and is constructed of repurposed materials. Both structures will be on view throughout the summer. 

Other projects that are unveiled this weekend and remain until September are the minigolf course, Benjamin Jones’ TreeHouse and FIGMENT NYC’s interactive sculpture program. This year’s minigolf course has a transportation theme and examines how people get from here to there in past, present and future. As for the sculpture program, four highly imaginative sculptures are being installed: Kevin Knigge Dartt’s Mt. Marcy Couch, Risa Puno’s Common Picnic, Edina Tokodi’s Fox and Sofy Yuditskaya and Ria Rajan’s Eye of Providence. See pictures below. 

FIGMENT NYC is free and runs June 6 & 7, 10am-7pm. For full details visit their website.