Stadia

John Shukin

Stadia is an exercise playing with space and history. Inspired by the massive “paintings” of Julie Mehretu, this piece is meant to be reorganized and reformulated, reconfigured according to each player. Each component was artificially aged to give it the appearance of having a history, something that is intrinsic to all material and space. Drawing on Mehretu’s work, this piece explores how spaces can be made into stadiums, that is, political arenas composed of various actors and acting forces.

Wood
40 in x 20 in x 20 in

Throw, Grow and Flourish

Sabrina Emanuele

Christina Gancz

Pam Menegakis

Cassandra Carosello

Alexandra Durand

Sophie Michiko Fukuda

The creation of seed bombs is a way of promoting methods of biodiversity conservation that allow others to be more actively involved in their community. Every part of the product is handmade and is either reusable or has an ongoing positive impact on the environment. The project fully embraces the concept of maintaining continuous life cycles of elements important to our city’s biodiversity.

clay, compost, organic muslin
5 in x 5.5 in

Object book

Dina Bakalova

This artist’s book highlights the global issue of green washing. It uses textiles, natural dyes, and transfer paper for the printing of images. The bright colours juxtaposed with the dim and bleached palette stress the controversy behind the glamorous and yet toxic fashion industry. The imagery of dying an endangered species exposes the grave consequences facing us as each new item emerges on the market. The book conveys awareness and reminds people of the not-so-sparkling beauty behind their favourite brands. The list is long and toxic, with companies like Nike, Adidas, Gap, and Armani at the top.

Stich witchery, Aida, bookbinding nails, metal container
10.5 x 5.5 in

Saprophytic Architecture: cleaning up Detroit’s Central Station

Sarah Denis

The project brief was to design a nature-inspired environment that would revitalize one of Detroit’s many vacant spaces. This project works in and around Detroit’s abandoned Central Station, a very important building for the city’s history but neglected since 1988. This project proposes a solution that truly emblematizes Detroit Future City’s mission: it is a progressive taking-over of the complex with closed-loop urban farming and restaurant systems. What about a saprophytic architecture that would work to clean up the host structure by bringing people, money, and infrastructure to the site?

Wood, paper, plastic, metal, ink
36 x 36 x 36 in.

Living River

Hannah Materne

Living River transforms an empty lot in downtown Detroit into an oasis, combatting both human and environmental water crises occurring currently. Living River provides clean drinking water, via taps located under the lip of the illuminated boulders. Their lights increase safety in the park at night. The boulders are intended as play structures and benches. By using pervious concrete and native ground cover, Living River represents an entirely pervious park, allowing water to flow through it freely. This prevents harmful run-offs and allows rainwater to pass through the park and re-enter the water table, filtering naturally in a process standard concrete does not facilitate.

MDF, clay, acrylic paint, embroidery thread, LED
28 x 12 x 4 in.

Erosion

Hannah Materne

Erosion is a design research-creation piece acknowledging the agency of rock. Based on Hannah’s accumulation of natural objects from the sacred space of her cottage, Erosion considers her differing relationship to the rock from the city versus from the lake. The emerging poem is scientifically accurate, based on the specific geology of Lake Wah Wash Kesh. It considers the feel of the crystallization from magma, and what it might be like in a sealed room, in the palm of a human. The image of the sacred space brought forth in the text tells its story with its physicality.

Digital print
22 x 30 in.

Slow Cookbook

Laurence Pilon

Jessica Maher

The intention of this project is to reconnect individuals with the provenance of the food we consume on a daily basis. The writing, the design, and the printing of Slow Cookbook address the notions of slow food, local food, while also highlighting many important sustainability practices. Furthermore, food waste can be countered by raising awareness within our communities, thus empowering individuals through knowledge of what they consume daily.

Screen-printing, paper
8.5 x 11 in.

Les plantes sauvages du Québec

Anne Moncion

́Emile Archambault

Marie-Pier Larose

Fanny Marcoux-Lebeau

Francis Leclerc-Charron

Every person, as a consumer, politician, and instigator of social change, can model their lifestyle towards having a net-positive impact on the environment and a personal wellbeing. Quebec has no fewer than 10,000 plant species native to various environments. Picking wild plants can become a gratifying activity for it supplies healthy, highly diverse, and free food. It is a splendid opportunity to discover things about our environment and to share the fruit of these adventures with our loved ones, creating new standards in our nutrition system. Until then, perhaps the weeds in our gardens, which we shamelessly pull out, can possess new potential.

Website