| 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.
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]
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 (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]
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 (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 (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]
Architizer A+ Award in the category of "Architecture + Community"
Harpo Foundation Grant for Visual Artists
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