What if migratory homes with autonomous systems for rainwater collection and food production were the building blocks of the city of the future? Mary Mattingly brought her Flock House Project to the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts giving Omaha residents the opportunity to consider how urban landscapes might look in decades to come. Inspired by patterns of global human migration and pilgrimage, the Flock House Project is a group of mobile, sculptural, public habitats and self-contained ecosystems that are movable, modular, and scalable. This multi-phase project is part fantastic and part practical. Its kicks off began in Omaha on March 13, 2014, with an exhibition of Mattingly’s previous work at the Bemis Center. Unlike traditional exhibitions, however, the display served as the artist’s active research hub while she was in residence at the Bemis Center, offering a space where she could engage the local community to develop plans for, and fabricate, new mobile living systems to be installed outdoors at both the Bemis Center in the Old Market and at Carver Bank in North Omaha. Omaha artists were then nvited to occupy these living systems in order to promote and implement a broader integration between Omaha’s creative and urban design communities.
Artist Katie Raine focused her project on nourishing the body with fresh produce through local gardening and feeding the mind through creative artist collaboration, promoting growth of self and community. She shared simple techniques for starting your own garden as well as engaging in various artistic experiences. Throughout the week, everyone was invited to explore and share how they experience creative growth by creating their own personal square for a community Dream Quilt created and displayed at Bemis Center Omaha.
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