Snarkitecture Co-Founder Daniel Arsham’s “The Future Was Then” Installation on View at SCAD

Daniel Arsham has a peculiar way of making you question space. Whether it’s a compact pillow that cushions an avocado or a series of inflated tubes suspended within an entryway, the designs coming from the Snarkitecture co-founder encourage those who encounter them to rethink their surroundings, and, in turn, their purpose. Presented at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) Museum of Art, “The Future Was Then,” is the contemporary artist’s exclusive installation for the museum’s annual fine-arts exhibition, deFINE ART, and takes the form of an immersive, sculptural installation exploring the relationship between humans and the built environment.

People have long been creating, destroying, and re-purposing the physical constructs that make up architecture—often simply as a matter of course. To represent this, Arsham designed a series of large-scale, faux-concrete walls featuring voids that look as if they’ve been blown open with explosives, while morphing to the silhouette of a human with an assertive stance (widened shoulders, hands curled up into fists). The installation is imbued with Arsham’s aesthetic—stark white materials whose playful or unsettling undertones juxtapose organic objects—while conveying optimism. The gradual shifting in the voids’ form shows progress being made in how mankind manipulates its surroundings.

The installation opened on Feb. 16 and will run through July 24.