Bodies of Knowledge, 2021. Collaboration with Summer Mei Ling Lee. Project Architect: Josh E. Keller. Penn Data Science Building Percent for Art Commission. Unrealized.
As finalists for a public art installation at the site of Penn’s Data Science building, we proposed a project entitled “Bodies of Knowledge.” The work performs meaningful connection through three elements: 6 sidewalk planters sculpted to include an intimate space for face-to-face communication; a directional sound installation at the threshold of the entrance to the building that communicates unheard community voices to those who enter the building; and a vertical beaconing wall that contains a large-scale video projection that communicates the aspirations of the students and faculty out into to the larger community. The three works are grounded in community engagement and center on communication, the foundation of data, and utilize the different ways data is collected, input, transformed and utilized. The works emphasize human connection throughout: connection between Penn’s data science field and the West Philadelphia community, the students and faculty and each other, and the unheard or historic voices to the contemporary users of the space.