PUBLIC DISPLAY
An installation
Designed by Michael Bennett, Studio Kër
Programmed by Form Us With Love Studio
Hosted by Meatpacking BID at Gansevoort Plaza
October 12-19, 11am – 9pm daily
Artist and spacial designer Michael Bennett found inspiration in the profound interplay of materials and space. His exploration delved into the captivating world of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), a construction material used by Michael as an artistic medium that helped him combine the weight of mass, the lightness of space, and the poetry of connection.
Balanced to perfection, Public Display, relies on the qualities of CLT, in its strength and beauty, elevating the concept of “mass” to an art form. Tension arises when a weighty object occupies space, yet it instills a sense of peace and tranquility. The installation not only holds substance in form, it also evokes aspirations, dreams, and maybe the impossible; a spatial composition crafted to facilitate public gathering for connection and communication.
In pursuit of pure geometry and artistic expression, Public Display holds space for dialogue, stories of human experience, revelation, and introspection with a robust program of conversations focused on sustainability, repurposing, and the elimination of the world’s waste.
Design by Michael Bennett, spacial designer, founding principal, Studio Kër
Programming by Form Us With Love, design studio based in Stockholm.
ABOUT Michael Bennett, Creative Director, Studio Kër.
Michael Bennett is a Super Bowl champion and three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, but his body of work transcends football. He is an activist, bestselling author and devoted husband and father. He weaves his passion for social justice and education into every aspect of his efforts to raise awareness about significant social issues.
He believes that public works of art and architecture have the potential to foster communion, of one’s private emotions and ideas in a public setting. He is founder and creative director of Studio Kër, with a mission to create intentional objects that seek harmony between humans, nature, and the spaces they intersect. To foster genuine connection and enhance cross-cultural exchanges, we examine contemporary and historical approaches of the African diaspora, which challenge conventional Western perception.
Michael Bennett approached Form Us With Love with an ambition to make a difference through design. The outcome was a collaboration that resulted in Public Display–a waste community lab with sustainability at its core, aiding businesses with innovative solutions for the crisis of waste. Enabling a world where no waste goes to landfill by aiding companies in their journey to decrease their use of virgin materials.
Michael is also a New York Times best-selling author of “Things That Make White People Uncomfortable.” Most recently he added executive producer and host of podcast Mouthpeace with his wife Pele Bennett, where Michael brings his unfiltered and unapologetic POV.
Michael is a member of Athletes for Impact, a staunch feminist and supporter of women’s rights, a humanitarian, and supports multiple organizations in Africa, including #iamtheCODE where he sponsors over 100 African girls in Senegal. Michael is an advocate for numerous causes and organizations across the globe, including an endowment for students from low-income homes at Rhode Island School of Design who were pursuing degrees in the creative arts, and grants to organizations like the Rebuild Foundation, Mass Design, and Humble by Design. The transition from athletics to the fields of design and architecture studies focused on the reclamation of public space through the study of spatial theory and architectural typologies.
ABOUT Form Us With Love
Form Us With Love is an international design studio founded in 2005 and based in Stockholm, Sweden. At the studio’s core lies a process that blends traditional creative practices with a lean, strategic application. The central intention is to evolve with the needs of each project, its place in the market, and the ever-changing needs of real people.
FUWL designs for an important reason: to improve life overall. People have different needs than a business has, though much of it overlaps. What is a solution for the planet now has to be taken into the context of the centuries it might effect. FUWL considers a lot of elements when designing — sustainability being chief among them. Each solution found gets added to their broader knowledge, so they are not starting from zero when we arrive at a brand new problem.
