Through film, sculpture, and installation the six residency fellows who partook in the Institute for Public Architecture’s (IPA) fall residency program explored the theme of “Living Laboratory.” Each of the six multihyphenate practitioners delivered a culminating project that showcased their research over the course of the residency. A total of 18 artists, architects, designers, researchers, and others resided on Governors Island this year as part of the residency. The projects from the fall fellows debuted to the public at an event held on November 8. They were on view in and around the Block House, a historic building on Governors Island, where the residency program is based from.
Drawing from the conditions of a former military base facing a very real climate dilemma, the cohort staged works that considered the island’s ecology and that of neighborhoods just a ferry ride away, while others ruminated on New York City infrastructure. The exhibition was out on under the tutelage of IPA residency director Deborah Garcia.
IPA is now accepting applications for its next group of fellows. Emerging and mid-career practitioners are invited to apply.
Here are the projects from the fall cohort:
Metal Fatigue: Red for Electrical
Nida Ekenel
Ekenel calls herself an “architect, of a sort.” To wrap up her research she produced an installation and sculpture that examines the electrical and mechanical infrastructures grounded below the city’s streams of pavement.
The Consultant
Sofia Dreyer
Through film, Dreyer chronicles a narrative about a consultant whose job is to reconnect an island, formerly a military base, with its mainland city.
Shore(Line)
Julia Wilson
The medium for Wilson’s installation was taken straight from the shores of Governors Island. It weaves together vegetation found along the water.
Echo Archive: Gowanus Lab
Martha Steele
Steele rooted her focus across the East River to the Gowanus Canal. Applying various methodologies—among these down-scan sonar imaging, UV-Water testing, and hydrophone recordings—she was able to visually depict and nearly enliven the “invisible structures” that have long inhabited the canal.
Terramation House
Sine Lindholm
Lindholm’s practical installation puts biology in direct dialogue with technology. Built as a “shelter” the object is fed organic waste that it then “digests” and turns into fertile soil.
It Gets Heavier as Time Elevates
Yitian Yan
Through photography and sound Yan examined the myriad coverings, such as canopies and sidewalk sheds that preside over city streets, and the histories and auditory components attached to the urban entities.
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