While covering another story on Rhode Island this past weekend, I came across a rather unusual sculpture. It's a frame of a house, and when I first saw it I thought that maybe someone was paying tribute to a former house that sat on the lot. As I stared at the contraption I spotted a neighbor (Rob) walking his dog and asked him what it was all about. He told me that it was a Folding House exhibit in conjunction with the Big Orbit Gallery (on Essex).
The concept is an interesting one. There is a set of steps that one can freely walk up. By stepping into the structure the participant gains access to the controls. An interactive cycling mechanism is housed (I use that term loosely) inside the frame. As the participant cycles, an attached cable (wrapped around a steel pole) moves the frame back and forth very slowly. As the cyclist chugs along, he or she actually tilts the frame to the left and to the right (depending on forward or reverse). Following is an email from artist Michael Beitz to Harvey Garrett sent prior to the installation finding a home on the Rhode Island lot:
I am a Fine Arts graduate student at UB and I am interested in showing one of my sculptures in an empty lot near the Big Orbit Art Gallery on the West side of Buffalo, to accompany an exhibition there on April 3rd. It is a large scale house frame that folds up and down when the viewer sits in a chair and pedals forward or backward. I noticed several lots in the area that might work and I am most interested in a lot at the corner of 19th St. and Rhode Island. I am attaching pics (see below) of the actual structure as it is set up at UB, and also pics of a similar structure that was built in New Mexico. I would really appreciate any information that you might be able to offer.
Eventually a location (near Prime 490) was chosen a couple of doors from the original proposed corner. It's in a fantastic spot situated between a series of properties being purchased by John Crawford and Scott Washburn (more on that soon). The contraption is a temporary exhibit that adds to the artistic momentum growing in this district of corners (Five Points and Essex). The project is reminiscent of another UB exhibition that created quite a stir on the city's West Side a couple years ago. Remember the house with the spinning facade?
I still can't believe that I stumbled upon this tilting house frame. Imagine my surprise when I was lining up to take another photograph and this caught my attention. Since then, I've heard a couple of funny stories regarding the interactive art sculpture. Scott Washburn told me that the day the frame was being erected a truck drove by, and when the driver saw what was going on he stopped his automobile. He proceeded to roll down his window and shouted out, "Hey, is this the first house you've ever built?" I guess if someone looked at the frame and assumed that a house was going up, it might be a funny sight to behold. Thankfully the temporary sculpture doesn't have to hold up anything other than the imaginations of its viewers.
In summation from Michael:
It is a collaboaration with Matthew Monroe, an LA based artist making mostly kinetic sculpture. We met as co-workers in NYC working for design company BDDW, making furniture. I received the Morris Arts Fund Fellowship at UB in order to build a new version of Folding House in a way that would make it transportable. It is an aluminium frame in the iconic shape of the standard American house. There is a chair inside that is equipped with pedals and participants can pedal the house frame up or down depending on which way they pedal. Matt and I built a similar piece once before at R.A.I.R. in Roswell, NM. and Buffalo seemed like an interesting new context in which to reconsider its meaning.
Folding House is intended to reflect the interconnectedness between the residents of the city and its structures. The kinetic aspect of the work creates an unfamiliar tension between the speed of the pedals and the actual movement of the structure, which is geared down to move very slowly. The structure moving over above you also creates some discomfort and this sensation challenges our expectation of what this form (house) normally represents, which is comfort, safety, and shelter. There is also a sense of play with the use of bicycle parts and simple motion that serves a sense of pleasure to accompany any discomfort.
The piece is part of a show that is currently showing at Big Orbit Gallery "housewares" and you can see the description on their website. it is work by Matt Monroe and me. The curator Sean Donaher visited my studio at UB and offered me a show at the gallery. He also connected me with Harvey Garrett, the Executive Director of the West Side Community Collaborative and Scott Walsh, the owner of the empty lot where we installed the Folding House. They were all super helpful and nice to work with.
If you're heading over to ride the frame, be sure to stop on over to the Five Points Bakery located just down the street!
View image
The concept is an interesting one. There is a set of steps that one can freely walk up. By stepping into the structure the participant gains access to the controls. An interactive cycling mechanism is housed (I use that term loosely) inside the frame. As the participant cycles, an attached cable (wrapped around a steel pole) moves the frame back and forth very slowly. As the cyclist chugs along, he or she actually tilts the frame to the left and to the right (depending on forward or reverse). Following is an email from artist Michael Beitz to Harvey Garrett sent prior to the installation finding a home on the Rhode Island lot:
I am a Fine Arts graduate student at UB and I am interested in showing one of my sculptures in an empty lot near the Big Orbit Art Gallery on the West side of Buffalo, to accompany an exhibition there on April 3rd. It is a large scale house frame that folds up and down when the viewer sits in a chair and pedals forward or backward. I noticed several lots in the area that might work and I am most interested in a lot at the corner of 19th St. and Rhode Island. I am attaching pics (see below) of the actual structure as it is set up at UB, and also pics of a similar structure that was built in New Mexico. I would really appreciate any information that you might be able to offer.
Eventually a location (near Prime 490) was chosen a couple of doors from the original proposed corner. It's in a fantastic spot situated between a series of properties being purchased by John Crawford and Scott Washburn (more on that soon). The contraption is a temporary exhibit that adds to the artistic momentum growing in this district of corners (Five Points and Essex). The project is reminiscent of another UB exhibition that created quite a stir on the city's West Side a couple years ago. Remember the house with the spinning facade?
I still can't believe that I stumbled upon this tilting house frame. Imagine my surprise when I was lining up to take another photograph and this caught my attention. Since then, I've heard a couple of funny stories regarding the interactive art sculpture. Scott Washburn told me that the day the frame was being erected a truck drove by, and when the driver saw what was going on he stopped his automobile. He proceeded to roll down his window and shouted out, "Hey, is this the first house you've ever built?" I guess if someone looked at the frame and assumed that a house was going up, it might be a funny sight to behold. Thankfully the temporary sculpture doesn't have to hold up anything other than the imaginations of its viewers.
In summation from Michael:
It is a collaboaration with Matthew Monroe, an LA based artist making mostly kinetic sculpture. We met as co-workers in NYC working for design company BDDW, making furniture. I received the Morris Arts Fund Fellowship at UB in order to build a new version of Folding House in a way that would make it transportable. It is an aluminium frame in the iconic shape of the standard American house. There is a chair inside that is equipped with pedals and participants can pedal the house frame up or down depending on which way they pedal. Matt and I built a similar piece once before at R.A.I.R. in Roswell, NM. and Buffalo seemed like an interesting new context in which to reconsider its meaning.
Folding House is intended to reflect the interconnectedness between the residents of the city and its structures. The kinetic aspect of the work creates an unfamiliar tension between the speed of the pedals and the actual movement of the structure, which is geared down to move very slowly. The structure moving over above you also creates some discomfort and this sensation challenges our expectation of what this form (house) normally represents, which is comfort, safety, and shelter. There is also a sense of play with the use of bicycle parts and simple motion that serves a sense of pleasure to accompany any discomfort.
The piece is part of a show that is currently showing at Big Orbit Gallery "housewares" and you can see the description on their website. it is work by Matt Monroe and me. The curator Sean Donaher visited my studio at UB and offered me a show at the gallery. He also connected me with Harvey Garrett, the Executive Director of the West Side Community Collaborative and Scott Walsh, the owner of the empty lot where we installed the Folding House. They were all super helpful and nice to work with.
If you're heading over to ride the frame, be sure to stop on over to the Five Points Bakery located just down the street!
![Selling [ Off ] Buffalo](http://www.buffalorising.com/assets_c/2011/02/Central-Art-deco-Buffalo-NY-thumb-145x145-18060.jpg "Selling [ Off ] Buffalo")
very very cool!