The Unloading Dock (receiving, holding); Provisional Loops; Nightshift

Lynne Smith has been engaging with the complex ecologies of the National Building Arts Center and its industrial histories since 2023. Connecting two ponds on the NBAC campus, The Unloading Dock (receiving, holding) brings attention to adapted aquatic ecosystems. A retention pond at the west end of the campus was built to hold stormwater runoff and function as a cooling system during the site’s years as the Sterling Steel Company. It is home to wildlife, but inaccessible to visitors due to industrial impacts. The other “pond” is a low point in the loading dock that collects rainwater and is home to tadpoles and frogs. Smith has expanded and stabilized this pond through infrastructural and ecological changes. The artist introduced American lotuses and other organic material to create a frog-forward space by suppressing algae and providing a scented alternative to the area’s distinctive industrial smells. Field recordings of wildlife living in the retention pond are played in the loading dock, connecting the two ecologies.

This project is supported by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s Frankenthaler Climate Initiative.