Join us on Sunday, May 1st for a drop-in artist talk and discussion with Christopher Lin from 12-1:30pm followed by a tour of Wet Networks by curator Celine Wong Katzman from 1:30-2pm.

In Christopher Lin’s informal artist talk and discussion, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the artist’s process as Lin restages the vessels in Soft Core Memory, 2021, a living sculpture containing bioactive earth from the CycleX site in Andes, NY. Each vessel holds a biome consisting of detritivores (earthworms, isopods, and springtails) and beneficial bacteria which consume and transform decaying organic matter into rich soil for growth—an active vermiculture ecosystem. Learn more about the process of vermiculture composting, food chains, the layering process of building the ecosystem, and the materials that go into the vessels while Lin disassembles and reassembles the work.

Soft Core Memory inspects how the land processes the complex and difficult history of colonialism. Buried artifacts (wampum beads, a colonial flag, and the Statue of Liberty) are consumed by composters gathered from soil samples taken at CycleX, reconstituting these charged objects into fertile soil. Unlike the compressed and hardened mineral core samples extracted to examine geologic history, these core samples are soft and alive, actively transforming, processing, and digesting their contents.

While once-powerful symbols dissolve into soil, composted organic matter explodes into life exposing time as material through growth and decay.

Soft Core Memory is on view in Wet Networks, a group exhibition presenting artifacts and commissioned projects from Shu Lea Cheang’s “Geek Camp” at experimental farm and cultural center, CycleX, featuring Tecumseh Ceaser, Nabil Hassein, Melanie Hoff, Christopher Lin, Jan Mun, and TJ Shin. Wet Networks is installed alongside the Queens Museum’s long-term exhibition of The Relief Map of New York City’s Water Supply System, and presented in partnership with Rhizome and CycleX. Wet Networks is organized by Celine Wong Katzman.

Schedule:
12-1:30pm: Christopher Lin Workshop followed by a Q&A led by curator Celine Wong Katzman
1:30-2pm: Wet Networks Tour with curator Celine Wong Katzman

Christopher Lin is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator with a background in research science. Fueled by a lifelong obsession with fossils, his experimental installations, sculptures, and performances question the world we inhabit and envision the one we will leave behind. After receiving a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Hunter College, Lin was awarded the C12 Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2016. He has shown work and performed throughout New York City, including at: SVA Curatorial Practice, ABC No Rio, Recess Art, Flux Factory, and the Queens Museum. He was a 2020 Bronx Museum AIM Emerging Artist Fellow and a 2022 Wave Hill Winter Workspace Artist-in-Residence. He currently teaches undergraduates at Hunter College and is co-director of the research-based artist collective, Sprechgesang Institute.

Celine Wong Katzman is Curator at Rhizome and serves as one of seven co-directors at the School for Poetic Computation. Previously, she was a 2019-2020 NYSCA Curatorial Fellow at the Queens Museum. Celine holds a B.A. in Visual Art with honors from Brown University and lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Melon.