During Fringe, Mary Mattingly makes art — and a statement — from her waterlogged surroundings
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
WetLand by Mary Mattingly
Moored along the Delaware River at Columbus Boulevard sits a 45- by 20-foot public art structure that’s part-futuristic, part-ancient and all-practical. That expansive mobile habitat and its theatrical raison d’etre is a cross between Alan Ayckbourn’s Way Upstream and Kevin Costner’s Waterworld — something dynamic, apocalyptic and transformative in that we’ll need to live with water, to learn how to make it friendly and fresh, sooner than later. And Brook-lyn’s Mary Mattingly would like to be your tour guide to the watery depths of salvation.
“I was drawn to the water, first, as a precious resource,” says Mattingly, the photographer and visual artist behind the interactive installation of WetLand at the city’s edge. “Water is also sublime. I love photographing it — that’s a feeling I haven’t found while photographing land.”
The idea of dealing with water’s future (and lack of) as a palette for her work goes back to her childhood in Rockville, Conn., a farming commun-ity with formidable problems regarding harsh chemicals in its water.
“As I grew, I found out there were issues globally with water, especially like those of Bolivia and its systems of water privatization. I worried about the future and our access to fresh water.” So she started using water as a muse, and as a dramatic installation art tool with 2009’s Waterpod sustainable habitat. WetLand furthers that ideal by purifying Philadelphia river water (via solar distillation) to use in her daily activities with feedback and advice from Philly’s Water Department and the Delaware River Port Authority. “I can talk about this technology forever,” she says.
If she’s going to have fresh water in this Utopic pop-up, Mattingly might as well have education and entertainment. As she has been building the waterlogged art work and residing along the river’s dock since Aug. 15, Mattingly has hosted cocktail par-ties, canning events and yoga sessions. Throughout Fringe, WetLand will host performances, skill shares, music and even instruction on beekeeping and urban farming.
And when the Fringe Festival is finished? “I’d like this structure to continue on, so I’m considering living on it and going to other cities. Or maybe I’ll leave it in Philadelphia,” she says of a continuing dialogue with Bartram’s Garden and WetLand’s use as an educational space. “It’s pretty comfortable here.”
Through Sept. 21, daily 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Independence Seaport Museum Pier, 211 S. Columbus Blvd., at Dock Street.
