The Chapel of Resistance
Collaborative installation of painted plywood figures by Floating Lab Collective and Chris Rackley.

Twenty-five plywood figures, cut and engraved by CNC router and hand-painted. Some figures are mounted on custom wood framework with wheels, others are suspended by cable from ceiling. Dimensions variable.

The Chapel of Resistance was first exhibited at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC during the "Occupy the Future" Creative Time Summit, October 14 - 16, 2016. The project combines contemporary representations of resistance with the compositions and forms used by Michelangelo in his Sistine Chapel frescos. Original drawings by Chris Rackley were engraved into plywood by a CNC router. The fabrication of the project was realized by the Floating Lab Collective, a group of cross-disciplinary artists working collaboratively on social research in the context of public and media art in Washington DC, as well as nationally and internationally.

For installation at the Lincoln Theatre, the figures were grouped and layered, supported by frameworks or hung from the ceiling, forming an arch over the stage. The figures celebrate Pussy Riot, the Occupy Movement, Hong Kong’s umbrella protests, Black Lives Matter, and other uprisings and gestures of resistance from around the world.

Thanks to Serli Lala and Tatiana Gulenkina for photo documentation of the project at the Lincoln Theatre.