The Architecture of Social Space: Creating spaces of critique within the places we live
My work evolves from an interest in exploring the relationship between people and their environments, as well as between each other. My practice is conceptual and manifests as participatory public interventions that aim at bringing criticality and a sense of openness to the places we live. The work triggers social situations that open space for dialogues around issues of “Becoming”, understanding that there is much more to us than our surroundings give us credit to “Be”. The objects, situations, and spaces I create as community projects and participatory interventions, ask us to relate to ourselves, and each other in unfamiliar ways, in hopes of finding new perspectives on how we see ourselves in this world.
By creating unique and unfamiliar visions of our world, my work focuses on drawing people in by curiosity, so they may begin to find themselves participating in something unrehearsed. It is about challenging our notions of space, cutting apart what has become invisible to us, and providing a context for not merely “acting”, but “reacting” -- and “interacting.” This process revolves around introducing an idea to a location, for it to be appropriated and expanded upon by the people there, which ultimately becomes a reflection of that community.
These socially-engaged, participatory public interventions allow for a re-entry of the physical and metaphorical landscapes of our lives by provoking conversations around exploring the “local”, questions of ecology, public involvement, community building, artists’ sensibilities, science, bringing criticality to a space, and dissecting the systems that make up our “everyday”. The work is about building a platform that allows people from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to exchange ideas and energies, so that they can work together towards a final goal or transformation. Often times these projects include working with local laborers, academics, engineers, builders, community members, activists, artists, poets, and anyone else that is willing to be involved in something experiential and participatory.
By piercing through the roles we play in public, we break up the narratives of specific public spaces. My work is about reversing the top down “one way” exchange of ideas and allowing people to “contribute” in a more tangible way to their own environment. Allowing people time and a context to explore the knowledge, beauty, sentiments, and hidden elements that surround them, enables a community to see aspects of itself that it usually would not be able to see.
Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta
My work evolves from an interest in exploring the relationship between people and their environments, as well as between each other. My practice is conceptual and manifests as participatory public interventions that aim at bringing criticality and a sense of openness to the places we live. The work triggers social situations that open space for dialogues around issues of “Becoming”, understanding that there is much more to us than our surroundings give us credit to “Be”. The objects, situations, and spaces I create as community projects and participatory interventions, ask us to relate to ourselves, and each other in unfamiliar ways, in hopes of finding new perspectives on how we see ourselves in this world.
By creating unique and unfamiliar visions of our world, my work focuses on drawing people in by curiosity, so they may begin to find themselves participating in something unrehearsed. It is about challenging our notions of space, cutting apart what has become invisible to us, and providing a context for not merely “acting”, but “reacting” -- and “interacting.” This process revolves around introducing an idea to a location, for it to be appropriated and expanded upon by the people there, which ultimately becomes a reflection of that community.
These socially-engaged, participatory public interventions allow for a re-entry of the physical and metaphorical landscapes of our lives by provoking conversations around exploring the “local”, questions of ecology, public involvement, community building, artists’ sensibilities, science, bringing criticality to a space, and dissecting the systems that make up our “everyday”. The work is about building a platform that allows people from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to exchange ideas and energies, so that they can work together towards a final goal or transformation. Often times these projects include working with local laborers, academics, engineers, builders, community members, activists, artists, poets, and anyone else that is willing to be involved in something experiential and participatory.
By piercing through the roles we play in public, we break up the narratives of specific public spaces. My work is about reversing the top down “one way” exchange of ideas and allowing people to “contribute” in a more tangible way to their own environment. Allowing people time and a context to explore the knowledge, beauty, sentiments, and hidden elements that surround them, enables a community to see aspects of itself that it usually would not be able to see.
Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta Matthew Mazzotta
