OPEN SOURCE

02/21 - 04/03/2024

open Source is an adaptive model that supports the cultivation of collaborative connections and knowledge exchange/transmission outside of the institution—a commons where people can gather, discuss, and respond to contemporary issues. This project began as a direct response to local and national budget cuts to libraries and their subsequent closures, politicians banning books, and the persistent censorship of our free-thinking minds and expressive bodies. It considers public libraries as integral sites of accessible and agentive learning, but also as a safe space and alternative housing resource for the unhoused. Inspired by the promises and failures held within social welfare models like public housing and public libraries, and the theories that drove minimalism and modernism, the work critiques and expands these forms and ideologies to construct a new integrative site as cite.

The project consists of collapsible wooden objects that can be reassembled in any environment, gathering folks to share and respond to various practices and resources by carving and imprinting them directly onto the forms. The project acts as a living archive and new architecture for social spaces of learning, living, and processing together. For this work-in-progress, learning resources were gathered from my personal library, local NYC archives, the Public Library, and by artist/activist collaborators and friends. I made a transgressive flower essence as an energetic offering of subtle and resilient strength for the space and for those who entered. Additionally, warm yellow lights were installed in the space, and ambient frequencies tuned to 528hz were played to slow down the body and mind from a reactive to a responsive state when engaging with the materials and to regulate the autonomic nervous system, inspiring aligned action.

Read Exhibition prompt

Access Digital resources (WIP)