Pull (Havana)
Mobile Sculptural Ecosystem and Public Art Installation | 2015
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Parque Central, Havana, Cuba
Pull (Havana) is a mobile, self-sustaining sculptural ecosystem that traversed both indoor and outdoor locations throughout Havana, Cuba, including the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Parque Central. Comprising two large, conjoined spherical structures, Pull was designed as a porous, living system—a hybrid between sculpture, infrastructure, and organism. Its aquaponic network supported fish, algae, and edible plant life in a closed-loop cycle that visualized balance, dependency, and care.
Commissioned as part of Wild Noise, a cultural exchange between the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Pull moved through the city as both an inhabitable space and performative gesture. It offered a poetic model for interdependence and was activated through storytelling, dialogue, and community participation at each location.
Project Details
- Year: 2015
- Locations: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Parque Central, Havana, Cuba
- Commissioned by: Wild Noise, Bronx Museum of the Arts x Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
- Materials: Steel framework, reused IBC totes, aquaponic systems, solar-powered pumps, fish tanks, edible plants, reclaimed textiles
- Collaborators: Yoandy Rizo and Yunior Rodriguez Castillo (Architecture), Lonny Grafman (Engineering), Giulietta Vigueras Borrego (Curator), Universidad de la Habana Design Team
“Pull was an experiment in building sculptural ecosystems that could be moved, shared, and inhabited. These spherical forms were designed to function like microspheres—small, interdependent ecologies that reflected our larger macrosphere. If one part wasn’t working, the system would show it. That made them a tool for visualizing reciprocity between people, species, and elements.
Over time, my sculptures evolved from wearable homes to something more collective. Pull marked a shift toward a shared infrastructure: one that embraced complexity, fragility, and the possibility of mutual care. In Havana, people activated Pull through storytelling, conversation, and tending to the aquaponic system. That was the beginning of thinking about art not only as representation but as infrastructure: social, ecological, and emotional.” —Mattingly
Description
Pull proposes an open space for mutual care: a platform without doors or walls, where systems of life-support for water, food, and energy become visible and interwoven. Through aquaponic circulation, edible plants and fish coexist in a self-regulating feedback loop. These elemental systems move across the city in tandem with the sculpture, highlighting the fragility and beauty of interdependence in both built and ecological environments.
The spheres of Pull echo both intimate structures (like wombs or wearable homes) and planetary forms. They serve as metaphors for survival and solidarity—suggesting that autonomy is always entangled with collective responsibility. Activated through public performance, each appearance of Pull created a temporary site of shared storytelling, environmental imagination, and infrastructural experimentation.
Documentation
Collaborators and Credits
- Project Manager: Ananda Morera
- Architects: Yoandy Rizo and Yunior Rodriguez Castillo
- Building Team: Osmany Garcia Fuentes, David Morales Escalante, Miguel Escalante Castillo, Lasaro Alejauduo Aluaces Peralta
- Electrical Engineering: Lonny Grafman
- Event Curator: Giulietta Vigueras Borrego
- Student Coordinator: Yamir Macías
- University of Havana Design Team: Julio Lamas Pinilla, Nataly Gonzalez, Carlos Carbonell