HOW TO MOURN
(2023)
FULL FILM

During a waiting period before scheduled demolition, a series of events allow for interim usage of the New England Deposit Library (NEDL) and Herter Arts Center (MeBAC).

The NEDL, built in 1939 was a storage depository for "dead book" (out of circulation) from surrounding institutions. However, as newer and larger facilities were built in the Northeast, the NEDL slowly emptied, serving most recently as staging grounds for Harvard's Landscape Department.

The MeBAC, built in 1959, was Boston's first purpose-built Institute for Contemporary Art, built as part of a larger Theater complex surrounded by a moat. 6 years later, a fire burnt the complex, and it has since remained empty. Revealed in the aftermath was a series of political miscarriages, resulting in a long string of lawsuits.

In both buildings wake, a mourning period is proposed. Rather than typical capitalistically-fueled adaptive reuse projects, and counter to the monolithic idolatry of a monument, the NEDL and MeBAC do almost nothing.

The NEDL is slowly disassembled, its material stored on site as a material archive, and asbestos discovered in the walls permanently betoniert in a cornerstone. As the walls are deconstructed and catalogued, the site is filled in with soil and becomes a garden.

Meanwhile, MeBAC begins a long repair process. Infrastructures of maintenance - ramps, slides, ladders, curtains - become permanent architectural features, as the building becomes a trade-school for building repair. Oftentimes, materials are sources from the archive at the NEDL, and brought to the MeBAC.

Last Updated 24.10.31