Various Artists
Under / Over (East) w/ PlantPaper︎︎︎
November 13 – December 31 2021
Participating artists and designers: Simone Bodmer-Turner, Sarah Burns, Axelle Dechelette, Joel Evey, Ian Felton, Joey Frank, Miles Huston, Jaye Kim, Minjae Kim, Samuel Marion, Frederik Nystrup-Larsen & Oliver Sundqvist (Off License – Cash Only), Eric Oglander, Nifemi Ogunro, Ellen Pong, Isabel Rower, Alan Ruiz, Emily Schubert, John Sohn, Sam Stewart, Brendan Timmins, Ellen Van Dusen (Dusen Dusen), Natalie Weinberger, Dena Yago.
Press Release:
“Marta, PlantPaper, and guest curator Emmanuel Olunkwa are pleased to host Under / Over (East), a group exhibition of Toilet Paper Holders hosted across several locations in New York City from November 13 – December 31, 2021. As a natural extension of Under / Over, this east coast iteration will be installed in several restrooms of note throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as centrally-staged in a forward-facing, public exhibition venue in Manhattan’s Chinatown. In tandem, the exhibition’s website—just below—is meant to act as both a collector’s resource and casual walking guide that can be used to locate individual Holders that have been matched with or installed in the restrooms of area vendors, eateries, and institutions: Café Forgot, Emma Scully Gallery, FOOD New York, The Freehand Hotel, Lichen, Lil’ Deb’s Oasis (Hudson, NY), Matter, Picture Room, Planet Earth LLC (New Haven, CT), Public Records, Real Pain, Sky Ting Yoga, The Smile, and Teranga at The Africa Center.
In developing and distributing tree-free, toxin-free toilet paper, PlantPaperhas become intimate with the devices that dispense their product, and has noted a lack of considered design in this niche but familiar touchpoint of the bathroom landscape. A recent graduate of the prestigious GSAPP program at Columbia University and newly-appointed to the position of Editor at architecture and design magazine Pin-Up, Emmanuel Olunkwa is a Los Angeles-born designer and editor whose guest curation has resulted in a diverse group of practices and participants from New York City and beyond. The result is a joyfully ambulatory exhibition that merges function and delight, prizing a seemingly humble piece of hardware that we invariably interact with every day.
Made available to the general public via the exhibition, we hope these functional works find their way into homes, studios, offices, and businesses, perhaps prompting a subtle shift in this particular paradigm.”
