Mosnart is an ongoing art project by JB Daniel. The main focus is bringing visiting artists to Chicago’s historic Pullman neighborhood and Pullman to visiting artists through mini art residencies housed in an original Pullman workers flat. The ongoing project spills out into the community in various ways allowing for interesting interactions between the artists, architecture and community. Ever expanding venues include the Hotel Florence, Pullman factory site, public spaces, private residences and more.

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“What appeals to me about this project is its literal transience: it is in a hallway in an old row house on the far south side of Chicago. As a space a hallway is fundamentally about movement, about passing through from the inside to the outside. When I think of Pullman as a whole I also think of that transience: its history as a neighborhood of workers, constantly moving from home to the factory, serving the railroad.

Given these ephemeral qualities I realized it was important to me to create something truly site specific. Consequently, contrary to my usual method of working, I have created the installation entirely onsite over a period of three days.

I began by photographing the Pullman factory, where I became particularly interested in the marks of wear and footprints left on the factory floor. These traces of movement are an eloquent record of the use of the building and those who worked there and those who continue to visit it. I then used those photographs to create paper printing plates, which I printed onto translucent rice paper.

The prints are purposefully adhered directly to the wall to become another layer or skin, a record of my experience observing the factory. I also created a sculptural work to evoke the experience of physically being in the factory which includes wood, corrugated plastic, and plastic sheeting to add to the experience of shifting from place to memory.

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Mono no aware (literally “the pathos of things”), also translated as “an empathy toward things,” or “a sensitivity of ephemera,” is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of mujo or the transience of things and a bittersweet sadness at their passing.”

Carrie Iverson
December 2009