ECOTOPIA: THE SECOND ICP
TRIENNIAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY
AND VIDEO
Exhibition Design, Fabrication, and Installation
International Center
of Photography
September 14, 2006 through
January 7, 2007
7200 sq. ft.
Ecotopiaries provided the setting for a survey exhibition showcasing contemporary views of the natural world in this current age of undeniable climatic change. The project was installed within two weeks, on a stringent budget, using techniques precisely targeting the capabilities of a non-professional construction crew.
As part commentary on America’s less discussed dependencies on oil, Ecotopiaries are fabricated out of a non-biodegradable, yet 100% recyclable, petroleum-based polyethylene foam tubing commonly used to insulate plumbing and heating pipes. This single material - an asbestos-replacing product designed for conserving energy and reducing noise - was repurposed and recombined to create cost-effective viewing rooms for audio-visual projections, light-diffusing screens, seating, and a/v monitor pods in forms echoing the exhibition’s biological themes aggregate graphic identity.
Recognizing the limits of computing complex surface geometries in the absence of gravitational prediction and the time for measured installation, MATTER innovated ‘woven’ skin panels that could be mass produced and tolerate tiling into a variety of configurations on site. The density and direction of the ‘weave’ caused the panels to naturally bow outward, creating the desired outward expression while requiring minimal structure for support.
Situated as fungal ‘outgrowths’ from architectural quirks within the ICP’s existing galleries, the pods are consciously reminiscent of topiary, wryly referencing this strange and idealizing attempt to shape natural growth into stylized man-made constructions. Countering a trend that considers bio-mimetic architectural solids as products of strictly digitally driven or reductive processes, this additive process of assembling cellular panels ensured minimal material wastage and accepted the inconsistencies of matter as determinants in their outcome.
