Holding Water: Mary Mattingly
Jan 28, 2025 – Jun 13, 2025
Curated by James Gallery Curator/Head Katherine Carl, Ph.D.
About the exhibition
This exhibition of new and repurposed artwork is a living archive of the physical—geological and bodily—experiences and processes of water in our local watershed and waterways.
Mary Mattingly builds sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and clean water, resulting in large-scale participatory projects around the world. In 2016, her floating sculpture and edible landscape on a barge in New York, Swale, depended upon water common law and inspired NYC Parks to establish their first public “Foodway.” Mattingly’s artwork has been exhibited at institutions including Storm King Art Center, the International Center of Photography, Seoul Art Center, the Brooklyn Museum, Palais de Tokyo, Barbican Art Gallery, and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana. Notable grants include the Guggenheim Foundation Grant, the James L. Knight Foundation, the Harpo Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Jerome Foundation. It has been featured in various documentaries and publications, including Art21 and The New York Times.
Invited artists Chloe Smolarski and Tasha Darbes contribute their project When Home Leaves You: Archiving Living Memories of Climate Change, an opportunity for visitors to the exhibition to hear and offer their stories of experiences with climate change.
Spring 2025 programs
- Wed, Feb 5, 6–8pm
Mary Mattingly Holding Water Exhibition Reception - Wed, Feb 26, 6pm; Wed, Jun 4, 6:30pm
Resonant Readings in the gallery: Samantha Harvey’s Orbital
Organized by Alice Matthews, Ph.D. student in Art History. - Thu, Mar 13, 6pm
Mary Mattingly Artist Gallery Talk - Thu, Mar 27, 5:30pm
Overdrive Contemporary Music Festival
Conversation with Jaime Oliver La Rosa, artist. Organized by Itza Garcia Ordonez and Tobias Fandel, Ph.D. students in Music. With support from Ph.D. Program in Music. - Tue, Apr 1, 6:30pm
Art in Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance
Conversation and Book Launch. Svitlana Biedarieva, editor; Ksenia Nouril, International Program, Museum of Modern Art, New York. - Thu, Apr 24, 6:30pm
When Home Leaves You: Archiving Living Memories of Climate Change Workshop
Chloe Smolarski, artist; Tasha Darbes, ethnographer; Edge Effect.
Related event: Choosing to Remember: Embodied Witnessing and Co-Creating - Fri, Apr 25, all day (student workshop by invitation)
Relocating Regional Modernisms
Inter-Asian Perspectives Work Group’s First Annual Workshop. Organized by Elizabeth Akant, Chaeeun Lee, Khushmi Mehta, Jin Wang, Vinit Vyas, Ph.D. students in Art History. With support from DSGC and Ph.D. Program in Art History. - Fri, May 2, 6:30pm
Metabolic Rift: Art, Labor, and Interspecies Resistance
Ashley Dawson, Professor, Ph.D. Program in English; Terike Haapoje, artist; Mary Mattingly, artist. - Wed, May 14, 6:30pm, Segal Theatre
Bonaventure Ndikung, House of World Cultures, Berlin
In collaboration with Independent Curators International and Ph.D. Program in Art History.
Exhibition credits
Exhibition curated by James Gallery Curator/Head Katherine Carl, Ph.D.
Installation: LanningSmith
Print design: Yve Ludwig
Materials: Deidre Hoguet
James Gallery Student Fellows: Jessica Applebaum, Busra Unluonen, Carlos Burgos, Kyle Canter, Danielle Johnson, Joe Konieczny, Tatiana Marcel, Alice Matthews, Vinit Vyas.
When Home Leaves You credits:
Sound Design: Sasha Bowers
Lead Creative Technologist: Josh Corn
Creative Technologists: Zacha Del Rosario and Gabriel A. Aguilar
Consultant: Irit Dekel
Web Consultant: Marco Battistella
Thanks to James Family Charitable Trust; Robert Mann Gallery; Ph.D. Programs in Art History and Earth and Environmental Sciences; Social Practice CUNY; New Media Lab; and DesignTex/Steelcase.