IUP's Kipp Gallery will host artist Justin Shull and his traveling work of art The Porta Hedge: Mobile Observation Lab on December 2 and 3, 2009.
The Porta Hedge is a mobile, artificial hedge that can be entered by spectators. It will be placed in the IUP Oak Grove near the Performing Art Center and open for viewing December 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and December 3 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Shull will offer his perspective on his work on December 2 at 5:00 p.m. in Susan Delaney Hall, Room G43. This presentation is free and open to the community.
The Porta Hedge, which can be viewed from the interior, has several eco-conscious design features: solar power, a small physical footprint (two tires and a swivel jack), recycled Christmas trees on the exterior, living plants and wood finishing on the interior, and the sound of birds on the interior and exterior.
It has been displayed throughout the United States. The experiences of the team transporting the hedge are available on the Porta Hedge website.
Shull said that several recent projects involve the reuse of synthetic plants in the landscape.
“This creates an upcycling of the material to provide new social functions as a mobile park, or a concealed observation laboratory. The trees, parks, lawns, hedges, and bushes that I introduce to the landscape purport to alter the ecology of the space, but the target in these projects could also be described as the social ecologies into which the objects insert themselves.”