Exhibit Closing

Tuesday, May 13th, 2024

5pm-7pm CT

Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design,

1725 Baronne Street, New Orleans LA 70113

“Join us for the closing celebration of "What Matter's Here.?!" on Tuesday, May 13 at TuSABE's Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design.

In the final weeks of the show, we're excited to unveil one last addition: a 3-D printed ceramic facade prototype designed to slow and absorb stormwater, designed and fabricated by faculty members Adam Marcus and Liz Camuti with support from students Ben Cornett, Kris Smith, and Sofia Vladimir.

After an incredible 8-month journey exploring material legacies and futures throughout the Gulf Coast, we want to express our deepest gratitude to all of the artists, students, and faculty members who generously contributed their work, time, and vision to make this exhibition a success. This closing event marks not an end, but the beginning of new explorations into how, through imagination and design innovation, we can continue to reshape our relationships with the environment and with each other.”

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

What Matter's Here.?! emerged from a desire to create connections among local artists and designers working to understand and reimagine the Gulf Coast's relationship with its industrial past and ecological future. The project brings together the work of artists paris cyan cian, Giancarlo D'Agostaro with Spackman Mossop Michaels, and Virginia Hanusik, alongside the work of Tulane School of Architecture students and faculty, and contributions from community partners.

From steel pipelines repurposed as scaffolds for new growth to creative applications of clay and glass in ecosystem regeneration, the exhibit invites us to contemplate the degree of distance between extraction and rebirth, between unbridled human ambition and mindful coexistence with our environment.

The work displayed in What Matter's Here?! is not merely a showcase of past or present harm, but a starting point for speculating about more optimistic futures for the Gulf Coast region. How might we rewrite the material languages of our built environment? Discover new forms of beauty and performance from the remnants of extractive industries? And reimage building as a catalyst for ecological regeneration and social repair? In this space where raw materials meet radical imagination, we invite you to reconsider what truly matters. Join us in this exploration of matter and meaning as we collectively sketch the contours of a more just, conscious Gulf Coast, defined by different metrics of abundance.

We extend our gratitude to our community partners and the participating artists and students who have brought this vision to life. Special thanks go to the Tulane School of Architecture and the National Academies of Science Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program for their ongoing support and collaboration.

Questions?  Please reach out to Brandon Surtain bsurtain@tulane.edu