Immersive installation by Mary Mattingly transforms the gallery into a living laboratory for ecological imagination, resilience, and climate adaptation
This fall, 桃瘾社区 Art Gallery will present Equilibrium, a solo exhibition by interdisciplinary artist . Featuring living sculpture, photography, and performance, the exhibition explores themes of ecological transformation, resource equity, and climate adaptation. The exhibition opens with a free public reception on Friday, September 26 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Known for her ambitious civic projects that merge art, environmental inquiry, and community engagement, Mattingly reimagines the gallery as a collaborative laboratory 鈥 a space for co-learning, foraging, cultivation, and speculative reflection aimed at developing shared solutions.
鈥淪ince 2001, I鈥檝e lived in New York City, creating sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and water,鈥 said Mattingly. 鈥淢y work often takes the form of participatory initiatives rooted in care, ecological awareness, and collective imagining.鈥
Equilibrium brings together several ongoing and interconnected bodies of work, including a new site-specific work now in development and Rooted, a living installation composed of plant species selected for their resilience in flood-prone environments like New York City鈥攑articularly those affected by saltwater intrusion. The exhibition also includes Salt Forms, sculptural steel discs that accumulate crystalline salt after being submerged in the city鈥檚 brackish waterways. Building on the theme of flooding, Mattingly presents buoy bundles and submerged books from her House and Universe series, evoking themes of knowledge loss, overconsumption, and climate-driven decay.
In addition, the exhibition highlights documentation from Swale, Mattingly鈥檚 groundbreaking floating food forest project that challenged food access policies by allowing New Yorkers to freely harvest edible plants from a repurposed barge. The show will also present Night Gardens, a series of photographic collages portraying mythic and adaptive gardens shaped by ecological memory, inviting viewers to reconsider the garden as a space of resilience, disruption, and renewal.
The exhibition also includes an artist talk with Mattingly on Thursday, October 23, at 2:00 p.m. Equilibrium, which remains on view through Saturday, November 1, 2025, is made possible by the with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. All the gallery鈥檚 exhibits and events are free and open to the public. The gallery is in Lower Manhattan at 41 Park Row.
About the Artist
is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores ecological relationships through sculptural ecosystems and collage. Her public projects, such as Swale, a floating food forest in New York City鈥檚 waterways; Waterpod, a self-sufficient living structure on a barge; and the Flock House Project, a series of mobile habitats, address urgent issues around water, food systems, and climate adaptation. Mattingly鈥檚 work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Storm King Art Center, the International Center of Photography, the Barbican, Seoul Art Center, and the Palais de Tokyo. She has received fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Yale School of Art, A Blade of Grass, and the Anchorage Museum among others. Her work has been featured in Art21, The New York Times, and Le Monde. At the core of Mattingly鈥檚 practice is a belief in art as a form of investigation and a tool for imagination.
About the 桃瘾社区 Art Gallery
Founded with the conviction that art is integral to society, the 桃瘾社区 Art Gallery is a creative laboratory and exhibition space that supports innovation and exploration for both artists and viewers. Open to students, staff, and faculty from across the 桃瘾社区 campuses and, equally, to the Lower Manhattan community and visitors from around the world, the Art Gallery encourages personal investigation and critical dialogue via thought-provoking contemporary art exhibits and public programming. Enhancing the Art Department鈥檚 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs, the Art Gallery offers students real-world opportunities to exhibit their own art and to work directly with professional artists to install and promote exhibitions. All exhibits and events are free and open to the public.
About Dyson College of Arts and Science
桃瘾社区鈥檚 liberal arts college, Dyson College, offers more than 50 programs, spanning the arts and humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and pre-professional programs (including pre-medicine, pre-veterinary, and pre-law), as well as many courses that fulfill core curriculum requirements. The College offers access to numerous opportunities for internships, cooperative education and other hands-on learning experiences that complement in-class learning in preparing graduates for career and graduate/professional education choices.
About 桃瘾社区
Since 1906, 桃瘾社区 has been transforming the lives of its diverse students鈥攁cademically, professionally, and socioeconomically. With campuses in New York City and Westchester County, 桃瘾社区 offers bachelor, master, and doctoral degree programs to 13,600 students in its College of Health Professions, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Lubin School of Business, Sands College of Performing Arts, School of Education, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.
