THE NOMADIC HOUSE Project
[Acts of Remembering and Forgetting]
June 4 – 30, 2022

A collaboration between Transformer and The IceBox Collective

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The Nomadic House, as a transient symbol of an architecture that navigates between home and shelter, evoking narratives that emerge in moments of adversity: quarantine, climate crisis, conflict, and displacement.  The meaning of home, homelessness, transience –being rooted or unrooted– is increasingly amplified, as we watch the war in Ukraine unfold.

The House has the unique possibility of manifesting the complexity of a multidimensional narrative of a moment. It is a symbolic extension of its occupants, in part because the House is the first witness to changes in our environment; earthquakes, fire, and natural disasters. Houses make visible the dichotomy of humanity, expressing fragility by the effects of being exposed to the elements, or they can be the source of safety as they transform into a shelter. Natural disasters can be visualized through house destruction, and likewise, prosperity, via the house index. House is embedded in the political jargon (speaker of the House, House of representatives).The House is in constant transit between the private and the public; it is a structure that hosts an interior experience and has a public display at the same time. Houses are at the crossroads in diverse aspects of our human experiences, from political, poetic, and social manifestations.

As a public art sculpture, The Nomadic House can manifest as a mobile shrine, a contemporary museum, a community space, a meditation space, a place for critical thought and healing dialogue. The blue & yellow clothing used for this installation was donated by the public as part of an initial call to both symbolic and pragmatic action in response to the violence in Ukraine. We hope that by moving the piece to various sites and building a network for engaging different communities, the Nomadic House can become a durational platform for action and reaction, fostering dialogue and empathy, and to critically assess what it is to be a transnational citizen.

Transformer provided an activation site for The Nomadic House, collaborating on programming to catalyze dialogue and action to benefit the victims of the war, both in the immediate and in the aftermath when the conflict no longer occupies the headlines, supporting displaced communities and people trying to restart their lives.

EXHIBITION PROGRAMS:

June 4, 12–6pm: Opening Day. Meet the artists of The IceBox Collective.

June 9, 5–7pm: Soprano Performance at The Czech Embassy. IceBox Collective invites you to a performance with soprano Ashlyn Rock at the Czech Republic Embassy next to the Nomadic House Project, an art installation that invites us to reflect on the concept of house/home/shelter/displacement/migration, the house is in solidarity with Ukraine. For details and registration information, please visit here.

June 17–July 20: Nomadic House on view at PARC in Tysons by Celebrate Fairfax

June 17, 4-7pm: Opening Event at PARC. Block Party; 8508 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA

June 30, 6-7pm: Closing Day + Artist Talk. For the closing event, IceBox Collective artist Courtney Applequist discussed The Nomadic House at Transformer. This talk will also be streamed via Transformer's Instagram Live @transformerdc, 6pm.

Ongoing: Participate in The Nomadic House Project by donating blue and yellow clothing, which will be included in the modular, evolving installation and project. Exhibition/Drop off hours at Transformer are Wednesday – Saturday, 12-6pm.

Resources & Websites for Assistance to Ukraine

• Razom unites Ukrainian activists globally, promoting the path toward a prosperous, democratic nation. Razom is providing critical humanitarian war relief and recovery efforts, delivering humanitarian aid in the form of medicine, hospital supplies, and communication equipment, as well as evacuating children with disabilities and their families, and advocacy. https://www.razomforukraine.org/donate.

• Right to Protection (R2P) is an independent Ukrainian nonprofit organization which provides legal assistance and advocates for refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons in Ukraine.  www.r2p.org.ua.

• World Central Kitchen provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises, building resilient food systems with locally led solutions.  Within hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Central Kitchen began serving meals around the clock at a Poland border crossing.  They have now served millions of meals at eight different border crossings and are supporting local restaurants preparing meals across Ukraine. https://donate.wck.org/give.

• International Rescue Committee  (IRC) is working with local partners on the ground in Ukraine and Poland supporting displaced children and families with vital supplies such as food, water, medication, emergency shelter, and trauma counseling. https://help.rescue.org/donate/ukraine.

• Unicef has been on the ground in Ukraine since 2014 addressing impacts of conflict on children in the eastern region, and have significantly scaled up operations all across the country since war broke out earlier this year.  UNICEF is working with partners to reach vulnerable children and families with essential services – including health, education, protection, water and sanitation – as well as life-saving supplies.  https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/war-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children.

• Ukraine Take Shelter helps connect Ukrainian refugees with potential hosts and housing. https://www.ukrainetakeshelter.com.
  

Stay in the know: The Kyiv Independent and New Voice of Ukraine are news sources that have championed and maintained editorial independence and are reporting from the front lines of the war in Ukraine.  https://kyivindependent.com; https://english.nv.ua.

Research before you donate: use watchdog sites like Charity Navigator and Charity Watch to learn more about charities’ expenses and leadership. https://www.charitynavigator.org.  https://www.charitywatch.org.

About The IceBox Collective:

The IceBox Collective fosters critical thought and dialogue across cultural boundaries through art. Using a dynamic, open-ended approach to explore a wide range of creative strategies, IceBox offers a platform for collaboration that encourages empathy, ideas and relationships. This multimodal artist group coalesces their various disciplines – visual, sound, performance – into a collaborative art practice that promotes dialogue rather than statements.

The IceBox Collective has received support from ArtsFairfax. The IceBox Collective has exhibited EU at South by SouthWest (SxSW), participated in Artist Panel "Can Art Change The World," and has been featured in MIT Press's Anniversary issue of ArtMargins, with the project Taxonomy of Breathing, a socially conscious, multidisciplinary art project that investigates our current societal moment through the lens of breath, and exhibited the project Things we lost in the Fire at FIAC 2022 / Paris - France FIAC 2021 at the Grand Palais Éphémère. IceBox Collective partners with various art and cultural institutions across the regions.

For The Nomadic House Project, The IceBox Collective collaborated with: Hope Cagle, Irene Cloutier, and Aurie Hall.

ICEBOX COLLECTIVE / ARTISTIC ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINE

DONATE: MARCH 10 - 12 and 17 - 19, 2022, 1 - 6 PM

In an act of solidarity and resistance to the multi-layered violence in Ukraine, we as a collective of artists and arts organizers, invite you to participate in a public action as a show of support.

In an act of solidarity and resistance to the multi-layered violence in Ukraine, we as a collective of artists and arts organizers, invite you to participate in a public action as a show of support.

“Acts of Forgetting and Remembering”: a massive collection of clothing in the distinctive blue & yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag to be compiled as a mobile installation in a public location (tbd) starting MARCH 26. This serves as both a manifestation of collective resistance and reminder of the tragedy so very often repeated.

CALLING ON Washington DC/DMV RESIDENTS! DONATE ANY ARTICLES of YELLOW & BLUE CLOTHING THIS WEEKEND!

DROP-OFF SITES:

TRANSFORMER // 1404 P Street NW Washington, DC 20005 MARCH 10 - 12 & 17 - 19 // 1-6 PM
Contact: 202-483-1102 // info@transformerdc.org

WASHINGTON PROJECT FOR THE ARTS // 2124 8th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 Thursday, March 10 // 2-5pm // 206.331.5486
Friday, March 11 // 2-5pm // 202.631.5438
Saturday, March 12 // 11am-3pm // 206.331.5486

VISARTS // 155 Gibbs St, Rockville, MD 20850 (gallery office, 2nd floor)
MARCH 10-13 //
2- 4 pm Thursday /
12-8 pm Friday /
12 - 4 pm Sat/Sun
Contact: 301-315-8200 ext 126

ECKINGTON HALL // 1611 Eckington Place, NE, Ste 170 Washington, DC 2002
Wednesday 9 March, 1 -7pm
Thursday 10 March, 1 -7pm
Contact: 310.448.3301

Please email info@transformerdc.org or visit IceBox Collective for more information.