During this year’s NYCxDesign Festival, local designer Riley Hooker created a twisty, inflatable seating system inspired by “gooey mold” that aims to serve as a gathering place in times of “crisis.”
Manufactured by Rhode Island design studio Pneuhouse and created in collaboration with designer Nick Meehan, SIT (UATION) is installed at Creative Time HQ (CTHQ), a “gathering space for art and politics” on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The inflatable “social sculpture” consists of several large worm-like volumes, including a twisting section that can be moved and rearranged to create different seating arrangements.
“Collective authorship, collaboration and collaboration are all really important aspects of this work for me,” Hooker told Dezeen. “In particular, the formation of collective bodies in response to crises.”
It is zippered together, meaning the system is modular and can be reorganized into different shapes and modified to fit its space – and it formed a corridor when installed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Richmond, Virginia.
Synthetic cylindrical pillows run the length of some sections. Floor and back cushions are placed in the curved sections, and these seats are covered in animal and floral prints, with the upper providing stimulation for neurodiverse learners and listeners.
SIT (UATION) draws from several references, including the radical architectural movements of the 1960s and 1970s, alternative education and mutual aid practices and designer Peter Obsvik’s benches.
Its main effect is the behavior and bright yellow color of the “slime mold” physarum polycephalum, a single-celled organism that bonds together under threat.
Pneuhaus is converting inflatable outdoor seating for use in protests
“In times of crisis [slime molds] “They assemble and form collective bodies, in response to food shortages, capable of highly sophisticated architecture, logistics and spatial memory – despite having no brain,” Hooker told Dezeen.
“This behavior is the basic metaphor behind SIT(UATION), a place to connect with others, and collectively seek out narratives that are in short supply,” he said.
The seats are laid out on a purple carpet, with additional cushions lining the rubber surrounding the seats.
Hooker worked with Meehan to create the models based on a previous project the pair conceived in 2020. After iterating the design with more traditional materials, they were introduced to the idea of making the project using inflatables, which “opened up new opportunities” in making it happen. Build it.
Installed at CTHQ from May 7 to 23, readings and performances by artists including FT and Courtney Smith have been hosted in the space.
Other installations taking place during the city’s NYCxDesign Weeks include a display by local design library Head Hi featuring a variety of “geeky” lamps and furniture made by a majority group of women, trans and non-binary designers, which was showcased in Brooklyn.
Riley Hooker is a New York-based designer working across multiple media including graphic design, independent publishing, art, and architecture, with her previous work including posters in the decolonization-themed exhibition Fairgrounds led by the New Red Order.
Photography by Mario Meron.
