Proposals: Cuenca
Sculptures, Collage, and Ecotopian Installations | 2021–2022 | Cuenca Bienal, Ecuador
Proposals is a multi-part installation exhibited at the 15th Cuenca Bienal in Ecuador, curated by Blanca de la Torre. The work presents a constellation of sculptural propositions for living within and beyond the Anthropocene—what the Bienal calls “The Biocene.” Through works that range from water clocks to wearable homes, Mattingly invites viewers to imagine ecotopian futures rooted in reciprocity, adaptation, and planetary care.
Together, the components of Proposals offer suggestions for an alternative world: one where water is sacred and rhythmic, waste is repurposed into ritual, and home is something we carry with us literally and metaphorically. The installation bridges ecology, cosmology, and survival through elemental materials and poetic form.
Project Details
- Year: 2021–2022
- Location: 15th Cuenca Bienal, Cuenca, Ecuador
- Curated by: Blanca de la Torre
- Media: Sculpture, video, installation, soft sculpture, photographic collage, ceramics, textiles, reclaimed materials
“Each piece in Proposals: Cuenca is a kind of offering: sculpture, system, seed of an ecotopian imaginary. In thinking about the Biocene, I wanted to propose ways we might live differently: listening more closely to water, honoring transformation, and questioning what it means to make and carry home in unstable times. Whether it’s through a water clock, a soft bundle, or a wearable shelter, these works hold grief, resilience, and possibility. They reflect the paradoxes of the moment: we are overwhelmed and we are building. We are mourning and we are imagining.” - Mattingly
Featured Works in the Installation
Clepsydra (Water Clock) A sculptural water clock using gravity, sound, and cascading water to mark ecological time. Water drips into vessels in a rhythmic cycle, referencing climate rhythms, planetary fragility, and the mythic dimensions of water as a connector between life and death.
Pipelines and Permafrost (Photographic Collages) A body of photographs and collages that explore fossil fuel infrastructure, vanishing ice, and resource extraction through a poetic lens. Pipes stretch across permafrost landscapes, revealing tensions between permanence and melt, rigidity and flow.
Daily Bundles (Soft Sculptures) A series of small, soft bundles made from collected natural and urban detritus, wrapped in textiles and bound with cord. These sculptural offerings act as markers of care and observation—rituals of attention amid environmental precarity.
Collected Tear Jars (Sculptures) Inspired by lachrymatory vessels, these jars symbolically contain grief, memory, and climate mourning. Each vessel is different—handmade and holding water or salt, echoing both historical mourning practices and climate anxiety.
Wearable Homes (Soft Sculptures) Portable habitats made from reclaimed materials, these sculptures blur the boundary between clothing and shelter. Evoking both armor and architecture, they reflect on displacement, climate migration, and adaptive survival strategies.
Exhibition Context
Proposals: Cuenca was part of the 15th Cuenca Bienal, titled Change the Green to Blue, which centered on themes of the Biocene; a future shaped not by human domination, but by coexistence and mutual adaptation. Mattingly’s installation offered ecotopian counterpoints to extractive structures, highlighting everyday rituals of repair, intimacy, and ecological humility.
Images
Related Links
→ Visit the Cuenca Biennial Website
→ Watch the Biennial Video Introduction
→ Curatorial Essay by Blanca de la Torre
Proposals at the Cuenca Bienal in Ecuador, curated by Blanca de la Torre