Matthew Mazzotta Explained

Matthew Mazzotta
Birth Date:28 March 1977
Birth Place:Canton, New York, US
Nationality:American
Known For:Social Practice Art
Education:School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Awards:Dezeen Awards - “Architecture Project of the Year 2018”

Matthew Mazzotta (born March 28, 1977) is an American social practice artist. Mazzotta grew up in Canton, New York, and works internationally. Mazzotta is a 2018 Loeb fellow at Harvard University and a 2019 Guggenheim fellow.

Education

Mazzotta received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Master of Science in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Program in Art, Culture, and Technology.[1] [2] He was a recipient of 2017-18 Loeb Fellowship at Harvard Graduate School of Design[3] and was a 2019-20 Guggenheim Fellow.[4] [5]

Projects

Project Park Spark

Project Park Spark (2012) is a dog waste powered streetlight installed in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It features a miniature methane digester which feeds methane into an old fashioned gas streetlight.[6] [7]

Cloud House

Cloud House (2016) is an art installation consisting of a house-like structure built from recycled wood and tin. Inside, it contains two rocking chairs, while a large cloud shaped sculpture is suspended over roof of the structure.[8] When visitors sit in the rocking chairs, they activate the cloud and water falls from the cloud onto the tin roof, creating the soothing sounds of rain on a tin roof.[9] [10] [11]

Storefront Theater

The Storefront Theater (2016) is an art installation and community center in Lyons, Nebraska. It re-conceptualizes the facade of an abandoned building to fold down into a theater that seats 80, transforming the town's main street into an outdoor theater.[12] Before Mazzotta acquired the property, it was an empty lot with a street fronting facade.[13]

Steeped in Exploration

Steeped in Exploration (2010) - “A Teahouse without Tea!” – is a socially engaged art project aimed at creating space for dialogues around exploring the “local”, science, public involvement, ecological issues, community building, artists’ sensibilities, bringing criticality to space, and dissecting the systems that make up our “everyday” life.

HOME

HOME (known as Phoebe the Flamingo) (2022) is a public work of art located at the Central Terminal of Tampa International Airport. It depicts a hyperrealistic flamingo with its head and feet submerged, as if wading through water. The exaggerated scale of the flamingos in HOME puts the "lives of these birds in the focus, and puts us, as humans, in awe as they tower above us, reminding us that we all share the same home."[14]

Awards

2018"Architecture Project of the year" - Dezeen Awards at Tate Modern[15]

Architizer A+ Award in the category of "Architecture + Community"

Harpo Foundation Grant for Visual Artists

2017World Architecture News WAN Awards in the category of Adaptive Reuse[16]

American Architecture Award in the category Museums and Cultural Buildings [17]

Congress for the New Urbanism – Charter Award[18]

World Architecture Community – 20+10+X Award

CODA Awards Merit Award for Public Space – Cloud House

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Matthew Mazotta . MIT ACT.
  2. Web site: Smith . Heather . The wacky, messy tale of the man who just wanted to make a dog poop lamp . grist.org . 18 December 2015 . Grist . 24 August 2019.
  3. https://loebfellowship.gsd.harvard.edu/fellows-alumni/fellows-search/matthew-mazzotta/ Matthew Mazzotta. Loeb Fellow 2018.
  4. Web site: MATTHEW MAZZOTTA . www.gf.org . Guggenheim Foundation . 24 August 2019.
  5. Web site: GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION NAMES 2019 FELLOWS . www.artforum.com . Art Forum . 24 August 2019.
  6. Solon . Olivia . DOG POOP POWERS PARK LIGHTS . Wired . Wired.com . 24 August 2019.
  7. Web site: Boyle . Rebecca . Dog Poo Powers a Streetlight In Massachusetts Park . www.popsci.com . 11 September 2010 . Popular Science . 24 August 2019.
  8. Web site: Eldredge . Barbara . This "Cloud House" is a temple to the rain cycle . www.curbed.com . 31 March 2017 . Curbed . 24 August 2019.
  9. Web site: Williams . Adam . Cloud-topped shelter makes it rain to help visitors relax . newatlas.com . 30 March 2017 . New Atlas . 24 August 2019.
  10. Web site: Testado . Justine . Make it rain as you sit on rocking chairs inside the Cloud House . archinect.com . Archinect.
  11. Web site: Hitti . Natashah . Dezeen's top 10 installations of 2017 . www.dezeen.com . 11 December 2017 . Dezeen . 24 August 2019.
  12. Web site: Brocius . Ariana . In Lyons, Nebraska, A Big Art Project Revives A Small-Town Tradition . www.kcur.org . 16 February 2016 . KCUR . 24 August 2019.
  13. Web site: Jordahn . Sebastian . The Storefront Theater is successful because "the community takes it and makes it their own" . www.dezeen.com . 7 May 2019 . Dezeen . 24 August 2019.
  14. Web site: HOME - TAMPA — Matthew Mazzotta . 2024-06-30 . Matthew Mazzotta . en-US.
  15. Web site: The Storefront Theater by Matthew Mazzotta wins Architecture Project of the Year at Dezeen Awards. November 27, 2018. Dezeen.com. 21 August 2019.
  16. https://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/article/1518333/wan-adaptive-reuse-award-2017-winner-announced, WAN Adaptive Reuse Award 2017 Winner Announced
  17. News: 2017 American Architecture Award Winners Announced. ArchDaily. Sabrina. Santos. 2017-04-18. 2019-08-24.
  18. https://www.cnu.org/news/cnu-announces-2017-charter-awards-1 CNU Announces 2017 Charter Awards