Carleton College will host the internationally acclaimed Danish art, architecture and design collective N55 for an arts residency focused public space from January 9 to February 5, 2015. N55 members Ion Sørvin, Till Wolfer, and Anne Roome will collaborate with Carleton students to set up a design laboratory focused on public space by imaging a hypothetical new building complex for the College’s Cowling Arboretum. The residency will include public lectures and events, culminating in an exhibition in the Braucher Gallery of the Perlman Teaching Museum.
Founded in 1994, N55 is a Danish art, architecture, and design collective consisting of Sørvin, Wolfer, and Roome. The group creates objects, buildings, and environments that cause us to question the ways we use public spaces. What are the different—even competing—functions of an urban street or a public park? Who has the right to use these spaces or claim ownership over them? Who constitutes “the public”? These are some of the questions N55 provokes us to consider through their works that encourage us to use communal spaces in different, often unorthodox, manners. More about the group can be found at www.n55.dk.
As part of the Lucas Lectureship in the Arts, N55’s five-week residency will focus on the Cowling Arboretum. As a site that appeals to ecological scholars, weekend bicyclists, student revelers, and neighborhood hikers, the Arb finds itself in a precarious position as it attempts to accommodate these conflicting constituencies. Can a building satisfy the varied needs of the Arb’s disparate communities? And rather than resolve the friction between rival camps, can an Arb complex catalyze and sustain a productive tension among its users?
From January 9 through February 5, N55 will establish a design laboratory, “Critical Studies in Public Space with N55,” in the Braucher Gallery. The residency will culminate in a new exhibition, “Designing a Carleton Public Space with N55,” opening Thursday, Feb. 5 with a special reception with the artists from 7 to 9 p.m. N55 will also present another event focused on public spaces on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema, Sørvin and Wolfer will deliver a lecture titled “N55 and Designs for the Public Sphere.” All events are free and open to the public.
N55’s residency is made possible by support from the Ward Lucas Lectureship in the Arts. The Perlman Teaching Museum is located in the Weitz Center for Creativity, 320 Third Street in Northfield. Admission to the Perlman Teaching Museum is free. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday-Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday and Friday; and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, contact Laurel Bradley, director and curator of the Perlman Teaching Museum, at (507) 222-4342 or visit online at go.carleton.edu/museum.
