OMAHA, NEBRASKA –
Beginning in mid March, the Bemis Center brings a revolutionary new urban living experience to the public with Mary Mattingly: Flock House Project Omaha. The citywide workshop takes place March 13 – August 16, 2014 and addresses environmental, political and economic dislocation and relocation by envisioning migratory homes with autonomous systems for rainwater collection and food production. Inspired by patterns of global human migration and pilgrimage, Mattingly first conceived of her Flock House Project in New York in 2012 as a group of mobile, sculptural, public habitats and self-contained ecosystems that are movable, modular and scalable. She is bringing the project to urban centers across the United States to enhance community-based interdependence, resourcefulness, learning, curiosity and creative exploration, and Flock House Project Omaha represents a significant step in extending the initiative’s geographic reach.
Mattingly begins her Omaha project by establishing an active research hub in the Bemis Center’s public gallery. Surrounded by documentation of her past work in that space, she will engage the local community in a direct dialogue to develop plans for these new mobile living systems. Flock Houses will then be installed outdoors at both the Bemis Center in the Old Market and at Carver Bank in North Omaha, and the Bemis Center and Mattingly will invite Omaha artists to occupy these living systems in order to promote and implement a broader integration between Omaha’s creative and urban design communities. Interactive community programs, workshops, lectures, performances and narrated tours focusing on Omaha’s history, current surroundings and future opportunities will also take place throughout the summer. An Opening Reception with a talk by the artist kicks off Mary Mattingly: Flock House Project Omaha on Thursday, March 13th, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. She will give an Artist Talk at 7:00 pm.
A series of workshops in May will includes a group design and build project to create a set of criteria for the design of an Omaha Flock House. Participants will explore available materials, Omaha’s building codes, water collection units, growing dense food in small areas and making renewable energy sources. In June, Flock Houses will be installed outside the Bemis Center in the Old Market and Carver Bank in North Omaha for local artists to inhabit as part of summer programs at the Bemis.
“The Flock House Project offers Nebraskans a unique opportunity to explore the ways in which art can help us imagine what the future of urban living might look like, including the role of agriculture, food and water interdependence,” says Bemis Center Executive Director Adam Price. “Mattingly’s invitation to Omaha artists and communities will help her realize her project over the coming months and ensures that the resulting structure will fully reflect our local understanding of these issues.” Amanda McDonald Crowley, curator for the project, adds: “The scalable nature of the project, and its capacity to help us explore the characteristics of a truly sustainable city makes it a model of self-sufficiency: a truly beautiful, research-based art practice.”
About the Artist:
Mary Mattingly is a New York City-based artist whose work has been supported by the James L. Knight Foundation, Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology, Yale University School of Art, the Harpo Foundation, NYFA, the Jerome Foundation and the Art Matters Foundation, among others. She has been featured in Art in America, Artforum, Dwell, China Business News, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Financial Times, New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and the Village Voice. Mattingly’s efforts have also been covered by BBC News, MSNBC, Fox News and on Art 21’s New York Close Up series.
The artist merges performance, sculpture, architecture and photography to address issues of home, migration, cartography and living systems. She creates photographs and sculptures that depict future and obscure landscapes, makes wearable sculpture, “wearable homes,” and ecological installations. Her work has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, the Seoul Art Center, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the New York Public Library, deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Massachusetts and the Palais de Tokyo. Mattingly participated in smARTpower: an initiative between the U.S. Department of State and the Bronx Museum of the Arts as artist-ambassador to the Philippines.
For information about Flock House Project Omaha and for images, click here.
For more information about the artist click here.
To learn about the Flock House Project, click here.
