Coin-Operated Wetland (2021)
Wetland plants, commercial washers, pump, water tanks, washing line, seating, signage, sand, gravel.Can a system of water infrastructure be a love story? What does design for mutualism rather than extraction look like?
Coin-Operated Wetland invites the wetland into a domestic relationship with a laundry. And in doing so, it blurs distinctions between upstream and downstream, human and environment. By directly connecting human action with environmental health, the work poses questions around ecology, co-existence and the expectations of engineering. Can our infrastructures be redesigned to support ecosystems as well as human communities?
Yes, it could be beautiful — but will it be?
Coin-Operated Wetland invites the wetland into a domestic relationship with a laundry. And in doing so, it blurs distinctions between upstream and downstream, human and environment. By directly connecting human action with environmental health, the work poses questions around ecology, co-existence and the expectations of engineering. Can our infrastructures be redesigned to support ecosystems as well as human communities?
Yes, it could be beautiful — but will it be?
Exhibition view, Coin-Operated Wetland, Smithsonian Arts and Industries, 2021.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Exhibition view, Coin-Operated Wetland, Smithsonian Arts and Industries, 2021.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Exhibition view, Coin-Operated Wetland, Smithsonian Arts and Industries, 2021.
Photo: Mariah Miranda
Photo: Mariah Miranda
Exhibition view, Coin-Operated Wetland, Smithsonian Arts and Industries, 2021.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Exhibition view, Coin-Operated Wetland, Smithsonian Arts and Industries, 2021.
Photo: Tega Brain.
Photo: Tega Brain.
CREDITS
Commissioned by Smithsonian Arts and Industries for the FUTURES exhibition (2021-22).
Spatial design in collaboration with JDMS Design.
Plant selection in collaboration with Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Smithsonian Gardens.
Plants grown and maintained by Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Smithsonian Gardens.
Plant Guide designed and illustrated by Julia Kim.
Commissioned by Smithsonian Arts and Industries for the FUTURES exhibition (2021-22).
Spatial design in collaboration with JDMS Design.
Plant selection in collaboration with Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Smithsonian Gardens.
Plants grown and maintained by Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Smithsonian Gardens.
Plant Guide designed and illustrated by Julia Kim.