Installation At 415 Franklin

Project Statement

Installation At 415 Franklin is a collaborative work between artists Filippo Tagliati, Sotir Davidhi, and Paho Mann. In this work, Tagliati, Davidhi, and Mann combine ongoing interests in the effect of representation and photography on the perception of place.

Created for ArtPrize 2018, this site-specific work responds to the institutional scale of the SiTE:LAB venue. Located at 415 Franklin Street, Grand Rapids, MI, the 65,000 square foot three-story building was originally a high school and was later repurposed as a county office building before sitting empty for years.

The artists used a high-resolution camera to map the floor and ceiling, making images in a grid and then stitching them together to make a one to one scale photographic print. The resulting print was then adhered to a cyclorama wall creating the illusion of the floor curving up into a wall.

The image of the ceiling was printed on silk and draped from the ceiling to meet the floor. This architectural intervention is in dialog with the physicality of the space, the visual texture, and the layering of time and history. This immersive experience calls attention to the current state of the space after years of sitting unused and serves as a metaphoric link to the building’s future use as housing.

A 3D documentation of the work can be seen here. ​