View from atop the Pendleton Art Center, overlooking Cincinnati’s OTR neighborhood
Ene and I both love to discover new places and figure out what makes them tick. Fortunately, our collaborative projects as Wowhaus often require us to develop site specific works in unfamiliar territory, forcing us to accellerate the discovery-making in brief but densely-packed journeys. We’ve each developed complementary tools in the process; Ene tends to focus on the social fabric and relationships that give shape to place, and I tend to concentrate on the built environment, history and environmental factors. Of course there is a lot of overlap, but the default division of labor makes for an efficient use of limited time.
Wowhaus was recently awarded the commission to realize a public sculpture in the historic Pendleton/Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati. We spent an action-packed weekend doing reconnaissance that we are just beginning to unpack. Over the next month or so, we will circle around our combined research and collaborate on a design for a permanent public sculpture. We owe a debt of gratitude to many who have acted as our guides, hosts and workshop participants, especially Artworks Cincinnati. I plan to post a more detailed narrative as the project takes shape.