BUILT INSTALLATION SPOTLIGHT
Pollinate: HUBweek Art & Technology Festival, Boston City Hall Plaza
$35,000 Curatorial Commission in partnership with MIT and Harvard University
Project Completion: 2017
A curatorial commission realized as an immersive, walk-through installation of light, color, and shared experience, Pollinate combined an ecology-driven interactive environment with a large-scale CNC-routed wall relief and custom projection mapping to activate a major civic plaza. Developed with cross-disciplinary collaborators, the work was recognized as "one of the most Instagrammable spots in Boston" during its debut week, drawing sustained public engagement and widespread press coverage.
Pollinate: HUBweek Art & Technology Festival, Boston City Hall Plaza
$35,000 Curatorial Commission in partnership with MIT and Harvard University
Project Completion: 2017
A curatorial commission realized as an immersive, walk-through installation of light, color, and shared experience, Pollinate combined an ecology-driven interactive environment with a large-scale CNC-routed wall relief and custom projection mapping to activate a major civic plaza. Developed with cross-disciplinary collaborators, the work was recognized as "one of the most Instagrammable spots in Boston" during its debut week, drawing sustained public engagement and widespread press coverage.
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• Role: Project originator, proposal author, budget manager, studio/project lead, logistics manager, install/deinstall coordinator
• Core collaborators: Jessamy McManus, Will Penny, Michael Porten, and Britt Spencer • Medium: Multi-component interactive walk-through installation combining a CNC-routed dimensional wall relief and custom mask-based projection mapping • Overall dimensions: 8' high x 20' wide x 8' deep • CNC-routed relief wall depth: 9" • Project Scope: A multi-part, site-integrated, walk-in installation designed for a high-visibility civic plaza, pairing a series of interactive exhibits and an architectural CNC-routed relief surface with a custom five-minute projection-mapped digital loop. The work was structured to support continuous public interaction, clear circulation, and repeat viewing across daytime and nighttime conditions. • Aesthetic Infrastructure: Pollinate operates as a time-based visual and spatial system, informed by network theory and biofeedback logic to transform Boston City Hall Plaza into a legible, magnetic beacon for gathering, movement, and collective attention. • Public & Media Resonance: Pollinate drew sustained crowds and widespread press and social media attention, with multiple mentions in The Boston Globe (including in the first paragraph of a Sunday print edition front-page feature), NBC News, online news and culture outlets, and regional radio, while also becoming a site for multiple spontaneous viewer performances and impromptu gatherings. • Strategic Impact: Engaging more than 50,000 festival attendees, Pollinate demonstrated the studio’s ability to translate complex systems-based ideas into high-traffic, highly visible civic placemaking, delivering experiential public art through deep interdisciplinary collaboration and precise logistical execution. |
Pollinate’s immersive walk-in format invited spontaneous, performative interaction, with visitors using the projection environment as a backdrop for movement, play, and improvised physical response.
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Image Gallery: Installation, Interaction & Activation
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