By Sarah Braverman, Fringe Arts

FringeArts is committed to celebrate new and emerging art ideas, to reveal what is yet to be discovered, to challenge expectations, and to support artists while serving our city as a cultural hub. We’re excited to share the news that WetLand presents the opportunity to serve Philadelphia as an educational hub as well! We’ve recently partnered with The Environmental Academy at Abraham Lincoln High School to provide students with an engaging hands-on experience.

WetLand is a new commissioned work from Brooklyn-based artist Mary Mattingly. It will be a stunning, large-scale, floating architectural structure that will serve as a catalyst for public discussion around the many uses of water and a future of sustainable, water-based ecosystems. Students of The Environmental Academy will help direct this discussion while serving as docents and offering tours to educate the public on issues such as the use of grey water, sustainability, and supporting natural resources.

This partnership allows students to deepen their understanding of art and environmental science on a variety of levels. The Environmental Academy already encourages its students to think globally and act locally; working on WetLand enables students to do just that. Students will maintain onboard water systems and collect data about energy use, resulting in an interactive learning experience. In addition, we are working to develop summer camps for younger students to experience WetLand.

Lisa J. Nutter, President of Philadelphia Academies, Inc., says “This project will provide the community an opportunity to learn about the impact that each of us have on the environment and our future.”

Mattingly will begin constructing WetLand in the summer of 2014, and the structure will be free and accessible to the public for a minimum of one month starting in August and extending through our 2014 Fringe Festival in September. Her sculptures and installations address everyday issues: from the depletion of clean water to the uses of housing. Workshops with take-away instructional booklets will be conducted onboard to further educate visitors on how they can implement these systems at home.