Announcing the opening of a new exhibit on the 9th floor of Schermerhorn Extension

Urban Residue by Sonia Kahn and Rosaline Qi

April 26th 2019, 5-6pm 

963 Schermerhorn Extension

The 9th Floor Case Project addresses themes of history, archaeology, archiving and collection. As an installation for Columbia’s Center for Archaeology, “Urban Residue” is a documentation of Columbia’s urban ecosystem. The Case is an assemblage of various objects collected from New York City. Both biotic and abiotic ‘inhabitants’ are recorded: plastic packaging, leaves, ‘fast fashion’ fabrics, bones, face masks. This is an environment in which the natural world has been urbanized and industrialized. Here in the city, we are surrounded by domestic residue, our material culture leaving a mass trail of discarded objects. This discarded and forgotten becomes the very fabric of what we are left to document, whether in the oceans or on land. Alongside the contemporary material, we juxtapose unmodified and 3-D printed bones— from animals local to New York although from disparate time periods. These merge the past and present, acting as a reminder of what is lost and what remains. This project encourages us to consider our and others impact upon the world and its various lifeforms. The installation reflects on the interaction between individuals and their environments, using the careful recording and documentation of transient objects to do this. It is an ode to the practice of Archaeology.

About the artists:

Sonia Kahn (Columbia College, 2022) is an Art History and Visual Arts major. Her art practice incorporates various types of media ranging from printmaking to photography, weaving and projection. Often making use of found material, Sonia visually explores her environment and uses image manipulation as a means of examining and understanding the world.

Rosaline Qi (Columbia College, 2022) is double majoring in English Literature and Visual Arts. Her creations exist primarily in the virtual space in the form of .obj, .psd, and .jpg files, so she is grateful for this opportunity to transport her work into the material realm. Rosaline uses computerized means to capture nature, describing the geometric and curvilinear patterns found in the organic with her digital visual vocabulary.

This exhibit is curated by Zoe Crossland and Tracy Molis and sponsored by the Center for Archaeology.

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