About Pallet City

Artists: Katherine Gressel and Jeremy Reed

Pallet City
was an interactive public art project made almost entirely from recycled shipping pallets. Pallet City juxtaposes different common uses of the pallet as an art/building material, and invites participation and feedback, simultaneously raising questions about practicality and aesthetics of pallet use. The city's fluid, linear forms and signage imply different actions that take place within the urban environment: sit (implied by a bench); park (a bike rack); dwell (a shelter); plant (a planter with small garden, which visitors can help water); perform (a stage where visitors can mount and document spontaneous performances); observe (seats accompanying the theater); exhibit (a gallery space with 2-3 different exhibits that the artists will curate during the summer, and a shelf where visitors can curate their own exhibits); play (a playful rolling wave), and learn (an ‘information kiosk’ at one end). Pallet City thus describes the city in terms of active, democratic use rather than passive viewing or restricted areas. The project was meant to spark public dialogue on the notion of city itself and the creation of democratic, sustainable cities. Pallet City was designed for the FIGMENT Terrace season-long sculpture garden on Governors Island in summer 2010.

Pallet City was open to the public at all times Governors Island was open to the public, Friday-Sunday, June 5-October 3, 2010. Please visit the official Governors Island page for directions to the island.

This blog documents the development of the project, and the public's experiences with it.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

July 4 at Pallet City!

We had a great little picnic with friends and family at the FIGMENT Terrace sculpture garden during the day on July 4--what better way to celebrate the birth of an independent, democratic nation than with participatory art and architecture! Despite the extreme heat, a big tree provided a shady spot from which we could observe passersby enjoying Pallet City and the new work by artists that was up in our gallery. We also had some of our friends pose for photos modeling the different "actions" provoked by the different sections of the sculpture...with some fun results!


"Dwell": we got comfortable!



Once we had parked both our bikes in the bike rack, it seems we had started a trend!=

Silly kids!






Our friends love to "learn!"
Watering the plants

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