LIVING SYNERGIES
Type: Temporary Installation, Public Bench
Completion: 2016
Location: Atlanta BeltLine Trail; Atlanta, GA
Team: Collaboration with Nghi Duong
Medium: Wood, Steel
Dimensions: 8’H x 8’W x 25’D
Commissioned by: Art on the Atlanta BeltLine
Living Synergies is a temporary public art installation designed by Mandy Palasik and Nghi Duong that challenges our perception of “home” as a static place of private refuge, suggesting the collective memory of people, place, and experience is what defines the notion. Situated along the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail, the installation welcomes visitors through a portal, symbolic of a traditional house composition with a human-scaled entry symmetrically defined by a gabled roof.
Inhabitants enter an infinite “hallway” where a series of plywood frames compose the familiar enclosing structure - the “walls” and ”ceiling.” The enclosure slowly morphs into a public bench, creating an open “living room” where the adjacent views of the Atlanta skyline, lush park, and stream of trail goers become the ever-changing backdrop. The integral seating creates an inviting communal space for inhabitants to gather, converse, and enjoy the surrounding context. Home is neither permanent nor insular.
