From UTM to MIT: 'Futurity Island' is on the move
What does it take to move an island? Lots of planning, a big truck and plenty of patience.
“Futurity Island,” a towering art installation built from blue municipal water pipes, is on the move across the Canada-U.S. border. The installation, commissioned for the Blackwood Gallery’s 2018 Work of Wind: Air, Land, Sea, will move to its new home at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge where it will be reassembled on site next to the Charles River.
Created by MIT-based artists Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas, “Futurity Island” was a showcase feature of the Work of Wind: Air, Land, Sea, a 10-day contemporary outdoor art festival exploring climate change, environmental crisis and resilience, and curated by Blackwood Gallery director Christine Shaw. Installed next to Clean Harbours Canada, the tower of blue municipal water pipes broadcast an ambient sonic creation inspired by swamp creatures and environmental contamination.
“This is not just a sculpture,” Shaw says. “It’s a transmission device. There’s a sense that it’s meant to be on the move, or that similar “Futurity Islands could be formed.”
It’s no small feat to move the installation. Plans to relocate the sculpture, which is constructed from 20,000 lbs. of municipal water pipe (donated by Work of Wind sponsor, IPEX ), have been in the works since December 2018, just a few months after Work of Wind closed and “Futurity Island” was packed away into shipping containers stored on the site of another Work of Wind sponsor, Musket Transport Inc.
Over the past week, Blackwood Gallery project coordinator Fraser McCallum has been working with the Musket Transport team to repack the pipes into a single tractor trailer container. “It’s really just figuring out how to fit it all in and keep the pipes organized so it can be reassembled in exactly the same way,” says McCallum, who will accompany the piece on its cross-border trip.
The resurrection of “Futurity Island” coincides with the launch of climate change action initiatives at MIT. “There is a gathering of minds that is happening around that initiative for the university,” Shaw says. At MIT, the sculpture will be reassembled in time for two days of programming, including talks, performances and panel discussions.
Shaw will attend the opening celebrations on Sept. 6 and 7, where she will deliver a talk about the Work of Wind and “Futurity Island” alongside the artists and Etienne Turpin, co-editor of the “Work of Wind” book series. Chilean artist and “Futurity Island” collaborator Nicole L’Huillier will contribute a live performance of the sculpture’s “Amphibian Songs” experience.
“Sending the work to MIT enables the Blackwood Gallery to think about different ways to tour an exhibition, which is standard practice for museums and galleries,” Shaw says. “I love the thought of futurity on the move. I would love to see ‘Futurity Island’ travelling from site to site, to different localities, inspiring more thinking about the environmental conditions of each place.”
“Futurity Island” is presented by the Blackwood Gallery in partnership with the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology.