The Moab Arts Reuse Residency (MARR), a program produced by Moab Arts, a division of the City of Moab, in partnership with Canyonlands Solid Waste Authority and WabiSabi Thrift Store, announces its first pair of artists-in-residence for 2023, Roundhouse Platform.

Intersecting artistic production, research, and social practice, Brendan Sullivan Shea and Noémie Despland-Lichtert are, together, Roundhouse Platform — a curatorial platform for public engagement focused on architecture and archives.

Roundhouse Platform creates events, workshops, games, models, small buildings and installations that investigate cycles of change in architectural production, site-specific histories, and the development of sustainable construction materials and techniques. Their work is characterized by a playful, albeit methodical, investigation of its context and low-impact meaningful interventions. Roundhouse draws singular inspiration from the surrounding landscape of each project, often incorporating local materials such as clay and sand to create works that respond directly to place. In their build projects, they focus on reused and recycled materials and low-cost, low-carbon construction methods. Prior projects have included domed paper-mache eco-dwellings built on a working cattle ranch on the Llano Estacado of Texas, a building prototype sprayed with a coating of post-consumer paper in the Mojave Desert of Nevada, and a series of site-specific participatory workshops documenting systems in the built and natural environment of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

While in residence at MARR for the month of March, Roundhouse Platform will be working on a project inspired by Moab’s geology – Pre-Cretaceous/Post-Consumer (PC/PC) – a design, research and prototyping project that will explore the structural potential of geologic matter when combined with anthropogenic waste. Using environmentally sensitive techniques of earthen architectural construction with experimental processes of paper and wood upcycling, the pair will generate a commercially driven system for producing low-cost / low-carbon sculptural objects and site-specific structures at a variety of scales. The project will culminate in a printed catalog of Moab-specific research, a display of prototypes and material tests, and a series of workshops inviting public participation in the development and execution of an earth/paper design-build project. With PC/PC, Roundhouse hopes to Illuminate aspects of the geologic and cultural systems of Moab, raising public awareness about place and materiality on the Colorado Plateau.

MARR began in 2021 with the mission of challenging the perception of waste culture by providing a unique platform for artists at the intersection of art, community, and waste systems. Through a four-week residency, the program offers artists working in all media at all stages of their careers private studio space, project and community facilitation, a $1,500 stipend, access to materials at local waste disposal and recycling sites, and the time and space to focus solely on their art. Artists are asked to provide at least one opportunity for community engagement, like a workshop, open studio, or artist talk. In 2023, two artists will be hosted together during the months of March and August, for a total of four artists. The application pool included over 100 applicants from around the world. Selected projects explore the possibilities of re-use in the Moab Valley and inspire conversations about sustainability, usability and value.

To learn more about the residency program, including information about the projects of past residents, visit www.moabarts.org/residency. Workshop dates will be announced no later than the first week of March. Follow Moab Arts on social media (@moabarts on Instagram and @Moab Arts - The MARC on Facebook) and sign up for our newsletter at www.moabarts.org for updates. Questions about MARR or the artists? Reach out to residency coordinator Melisa Morgan at mmorgan@moabcity.org or via phone at 435- 259-6272. Learn more about Roundhouse Platform at www.roundhouseplatform.com.