By Theresa Rose, FringeArts

Anticipated for the summer of 2014, FringeArts will commission Brooklyn-based artist Mary Mattingly to create WetLand, our first major temporary public art project. WetLand will be a visually stunning utopic floating structure with the central intention of igniting imaginations around a sustainable future. Free and open to the public, the water-based ecosystem will be replete with solar panels, gardens and water filtration systems, and will be docked along the Delaware River. Visitors can expect to board the island-like environment and learn about sustainable living systems, as well as take-home DIY instructions.

A WetLand rendering

FringeArts and Mattingly are working together, with the help of partners like the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and the Philadelphia Water Department, to create a project that is well-suited for our city. WetLand is in perfect alignment with the Green City, Clean Waters goals of the PWD, as well as with the development plans of the DRWC along the Delaware River Waterfront area.

Mattingly’s intention is to provide solutions and to excite thinking about the ever-changing environment in which we live. She has been working with sustainable systems as well as with photography. In 2012, Mattingly was awarded a fellowship through the Bronx Museum of Art and the U.S. Department of State to participate in the smARTpower project, where she acted as an artist ambassador to the Philippines making water-based sculptures with Manila-based artists, students, and professionals.

Just recently, FringeArts learned that Mary Mattingly will be featured on the PBS series Art21 with at least three video segments.  One of them is expected to be filmed here in Philadelphia while she’s here working on WetLand. Art21 is one of the most prestigious platforms for contemporary artists today, so of course we are incredibly thrilled about this!

A link to the first segment is above. Click here for more info about Art21