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This installation, made in an abandoned hotel in Kassel on the occasion of dOCUMENTA (13), imagined the ambitious restoration of the hotel with labor and materials from an abandoned building on Chicago’s South Side. The transplanting of material, along with programming by the Black Monks of Mississippi made the Huguenot House a central hub for the spiritual life of dOCUMENTA (13). Along with being a home for sculptural works, the three-srory building functioned as a platform for wellness, public conversations, ongoing musical performances by the Black Monks of Mississippi, and sleeping quarters for the team of skilled builders, artists, and other makers in training; all part of my larger project of service to community, and community in service to craft. 12 Ballads For Huguenot House amplified my interrogation of the space, taking it from Black concern to one that has legs in the larger conversation of both institutional critique and a new notion of Land Art.

 

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

Installation view, 12 Ballads For Huguenot House, dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany, 2012.

12 Ballads for Huguenot House