Equilibrium

Pace University Art Gallery presents Equilibrium, a solo exhibition by interdisciplinary artist Mary Mattingly. Featuring living sculpture, photography, and performance, the exhibition explores themes of ecological transformation, resource equity, and climate adaptation. Known for her ambitious civic projects that merge art, environmental inquiry, and community engagement, Mattingly reimagines the gallery as a collaborative laboratory — a space for co-learning, foraging, cultivation, and speculative reflection aimed at developing shared solutions. “Since 2001, I’ve lived in New York City, creating sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and water,” said Mattingly. “My work often takes the form of participatory initiatives rooted in care, ecological awareness, and collective imagining.” Equilibrium brings together several ongoing and interconnected bodies of work, including a new site-specific work now in development and Rooted, a living installation composed of plant species selected for their resilience in flood-prone environments like New York City—particularly those affected by saltwater intrusion. The exhibition also includes Salt Forms, sculptural steel discs that accumulate crystalline salt after being submerged in the city’s brackish waterways. Building on the theme of flooding, Mattingly presents buoy bundles and submerged books from her House and Universeseries, evoking themes of knowledge loss, overconsumption, and climate-driven decay. In addition, the exhibition highlights documentation from Swale, Mattingly’s groundbreaking floating food forest project that challenged food access policies by allowing New Yorkers to freely harvest edible plants from a repurposed barge. The show will also present Night Gardens, a series of photographic collages portraying mythic and adaptive gardens shaped by ecological memory, inviting viewers to reconsider the garden as a space of resilience, disruption, and renewal. The exhibition also includes an artist talk with Mattingly on Thursday, October 23, at 2:00 p.m. Equilibrium is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. All the gallery’s exhibits and events are free and open to the public. The gallery is in Lower Manhattan at 41 Park Row. Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores ecological relationships through sculptural ecosystems and collage. Her public projects, such as Swale, a floating food forest in New York City’s waterways; Waterpod, a self-sufficient living structure on a barge; and the Flock House Project, a series of mobile habitats, address urgent issues around water, food systems, and climate adaptation. Mattingly’s work has been exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, Storm King Art Center, the International Center of Photography, the Barbican, Seoul Art Center, and the Palais de Tokyo. She has received fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Yale School of Art, A Blade of Grass, and the Anchorage Museum among others. Her work has been featured in Art21, The New York Times, and Le Monde. At the core of Mattingly’s practice is a belief in art as a form of investigation and a tool for imagination. About the Pace University Art Gallery: Founded with the conviction that art is integral to society, the Pace University Art Gallery is a creative laboratory and exhibition space that supports innovation and exploration for both artists and viewers. Open to students, staff, and faculty from across the Pace campuses and, equally, to the Lower Manhattan community and visitors from around the world, the Art Gallery encourages personal investigation and critical dialogue via thought-provoking contemporary art exhibits and public programming. Enhancing the Art Department’s Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs, the Art Gallery offers students real-world opportunities to exhibit their own art and to work directly with professional artists to install and promote exhibitions. All exhibits and events are free and open to the public.

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41 Park Row

New York, NY