FORMS
An interactive public art installation inspired by South Indian floor art executed on Washington Street Brooklyn as part of The Six Food Platform by Dumbo Improvement District.
Agency
Harlem CoLab LLC
Practice Area
Client
The Six Foot Platform by Dumbo Improvement District, NYC
Industry
The Challenge
The challenge was the creation of a participatory public art experience housed within a 6×6×6 platform and placed on a busy Brooklyn street with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge, designed to invite passersby and tourists to contribute to a growing mural.
Project Vision
To create a point of visual interest, curiosity and urban respite led by art, in the tourist-heavy Washington street. To create a visually intriguing installation that people of varying levels of interest, artistic ability and exposure to the south Indian floor art of ‘Kolam’ which inspired its design could engage with.
A participant views the cue card.
Hamna Faisal
A young girl works on her pattern.
Hamna Faisal
Design + Execution
Built as a 6′ x 6′ x 6′ enclosure using tempered hardboard, this installation used a grid of pegs inspired by the dots found in traditional kolam art. Stretchy colored loops could be woven around the pegs to form shapes, keeping the visual connection to the art form while encouraging a more hands-on, intuitive kind of interaction.
Participants picked a cue card from a pile—each showing a pattern at a different level of complexity—and tried recreating it using loops of the right size and color. The act of recreating opened up space for collaboration, interpretation, and imagination, and was easy to adapt to different levels of ability and interest.
The idea was to take the pattern-making and geometry at the heart of kolams and make it accessible far beyond the context it came from. In the process, the installation ended up sparking a lot of conversations—about cultural memory, participation, and how the right kind of experience can help art cross boundaries.
The design process involved:
– Figuring out the structure and materiality of the platform
– Curating a set of patterns organized by difficulty
– Creating cue cards and stretch loops to support engagement
It was designed to be easy to assemble, low-cost, and flexible enough to drop into a busy urban setting. Everything was hand-built using power tools, super glue, and wood glue, which made setup and takedown quick and unintrusive. The simplicity and tactile nature of the setup helped cut down access barriers and made it easy for people of all ages to jump in and participate with confidence.
The artist demonstrates loop-making to a sister-brother duo.
Hamna Faisal
Participants and passers-by interact with the artists around the installation.
Naomi Trusty
A young boy improvises and creates his own pattern.
Naomi Trusty
FORMS against the background of the Manhattan Bridge in the early hours of the day.
Hamna Faisal
The artist helps a participant finish up a pattern.
Naomi Trusty
Project Details
Design Team
Akshay Bharadhwaj (co-designer)
Sunanda Vasudevan (co-designer)
Photo Credits
Naomi Trusty, Hamna Faisal (photography, videography)
Open Date
October 2024