Jones Falls 2076 Opening Reception

Baltimore’s founding river has been hidden below I-83 for over 50 years, overlooked and mistreated. This waterway made possible the rise of Baltimore as an American industrial powerhouse. And yet it is out of sight and out of mind for many residents of the city and region. As the elevated expressway covering the Jones Falls nears the projected end of its lifespan, more and more Baltimoreans are imagining and asking for a different future for the river. Jones Falls 2076 centers on 14 newly-commissioned speculative works that envision a radically restored and reimagined Jones Falls in the year 2076. These works reframe the Jones Falls to come half a century from now through the lens of possibility, imagining what it might look like unburied, reconnected, repaired, and recentered as the ecological, social, and civic heart of Baltimore. Supplementing these works is a survey of previous plans, visions, and depictions of the Jones Falls from the 1800s through the present, from designs to tame, bury, and divert the river, through more recent proposals to daylight and reclaim the waterway. Jones Falls 2076 is the second of two exhibitions presented by the Jones Falls 2076 project, following Confluence at AREA 405 this spring, and represents a culmination of the project’s year of activities. Building on Jones Falls 2076’s widely-attended River Reimagining Workshops, the new exhibition also features new participatory design opportunities that invite visitors to share their own visions. Jones Falls 2076 poses these questions: What futures do we want for the river at the heart of our city? And how might we get there? Join us at The Peale on October 15 from 5 - 7 PM to celebrate the opening of this new exhibition and share your visions for the future of the Jones Falls. [Featured Image: The Civic Forest by Unknown Studio Landscape Architecture & Urban Design]