Block Parti, Arch 501: Towers Philadelphia, PA
Stuart Weitzman School of Design
Critic: Eduardo Rega Calvo
TA: Amy Koenig
Team: Ryan Lane + Iris Zi + Camille Escobar
Institute of Contemporary Art, Group Exhibition
October 18-20, 2023
// Endangered playthings supersize to cooperatively stack, forcibly occupying commonplace environments. - "Block Parti" reimagines modularity and unstructured play as tools for creating didactic vessels, breaking out as ecological survival tools. Recognizable animal forms captivate a child-esque fascination of nature offering passive protest as guerilla objects. As tools of sustainable environments, they roam into everyday spaces where the deceptive familiarity of these miniatures attempts to draw one into their simulated realities. In rejecting diminution, these figures scale to anthropocentric constructions, serving as educational apparatus, bespoke furnishings, commonplace storage, or quotidian remnants; a modular construction akin to Ikea. Here, Block Parti works to introduce fundamental ambiguities, allowing the scenography of these vessels to create images and conjure illusions that are tactile in nature. This selective materiality insulates and blankets to offer habitat for endangered flora and fauna; while abstracted motifs implement graphic effects, in-sighting curiosity of camouflaged inhabitants.
