New Museum Project 2007

The New Museum of Contemporary Art Uniform Proposal
Mary Mattingly

Four years ago, I was working with the security and operations team at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, lead by Tom Brumley. During my time there, I patrolled the galleries, directed visitors, answered questions, and many times acted as a docent by explaining and expanding upon the artwork that people had questions about. Security at the New Museum meant watching and protecting the entire space during open hours, dealing with personailties, regulating temperatures in the art storage rooms, thoroughly checking, locking and alarming the building after hours.

Occasionally, it would be my job to count the number of visitors during the day, while directing them to the “bag check” area. During these shifts, I would take note and record the patterns that I saw. One list that I would always make was an ongoing tally of the clothing colors that every visitor wore. This was an essential body of information that helped me construct the wearable home: a protective, insular shelter that would allow for climate change, terrestrial and aquatic-scapes, one that is nomadic, non-descript, technologically adept, and future-forward. The new wearable homes provide wireless Internet access, body sensors, scanners and communicative devices.

When asked to submit a design for the New Museum teams I was inspired to think about what elements could be contained inside of the uniform to make the job easier and the tools less cumbersome. The designs included a built in intranet system to communicate with the team, a watch that allows you to see your schedule and monitors temperature, as well as built in flashlights. These uniform designs converge with the new architectural façade, and equally diverge from the organization of the sleek and changing interior. My quest is to see that the transactions between the visual and the material create a cohesive sense of place: a creative televisual and technological safe-zone, mapped with striations, and exuding the strength within the oneness of a team.