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Oscar Tuazon: Water School @ MSU Broad Museum — Detroit Art Review, Feb 22 2019
Source: https://detroitartreview.com/2019/02/oscar-tuazon-water-school-msu-broad-museum/
Jonathan Rinck, Detroit Art Review, February 22, 2019
“In 1972, the pioneering architect and inventor Steve Baer created the ‘Zome Home,’ a passive solar-powered house that allowed him to live completely off the grid. Wildly inventive, the angular, dome-shaped structure looks like something that might exist in the Star Wars universe. Dispersing his ideas through publications like Dome Cookbook, Baer garnered a small but devoted cult following of environmentally conscientious do-it-yourself amateur architects. Breathing fresh life into Baer’s ideas, California-based artist Oscar Tuazon represents the next generation of zero-waste domestic architecture.”
On Zome Alloy:
“The centerpiece of the exhibition is Tuazon’s Zome Alloy (2016), a full-scale plywood prototype of several rooms inspired by Baer’s signature polygonal ‘Zome Home’ (a term coined by Baer’s friend Steve Durkee, referencing the dome shape of each module). Here, Tuazon erected three interconnected rooms taken from the complete structure which was originally displayed at Art Basel, 2016 (the other rooms are on view in his other Water Schools). Zome Alloy isn’t functional as an actual home, but serves as interactive sculpture/architecture. Its rooms contain a library of books selected by Tuazon from the MSU library because, as Tuazon says, ‘every school begins with a library.’ The subjects range from art and architecture to science and activism.”
On passive solar and the DrumWall:
“Unlike conventional solar-powered homes, Baer’s Zomes applied passive solar power, meaning that the architectural elements of the home harness solar energy without the aid of any electronics or waste-producing fuel. For example, the south face of Baer’s home (which faced the sun most of the time) contained large window bays which held dozens of large drums filled with water, serving to cool the house by day and insulate the house at night.”
On Tuazon’s Curtain Wall (Beadwall):
“His Curtain Wall, a window comprised of two large panes of glass set within a frame (imagine a glass shadowbox); during the day, it functions as a window and lets in sunlight, but at night the space between the panes can be filled with polystyrene beads, which serve as highly effective insulation.”
On the first-generation sources:
“A final room in the exhibition displays selected ephemera and publications produced by the first-generation environmentalists (Steve Baer, Buckminster Fuller, and Stewart Brand) which inspired Tuazon’s own work. These writings include Baer’s Dome Cookbook (1969), which disseminated Baer’s ideas and encouraged a movement of do-it-yourself sustainable architecture.”
Key works mentioned
| Work | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Zome Alloy | 2016 | Full-scale plywood zome prototype; three interconnected rooms; originally at Art Basel 2016; contains library; interactive “school” |
| Rocket-Stove | — | High-efficiency heating, near-zero smoke |
| Rainbenders | 2018 | Designed to capture water in regions with <15 inches/year |
| Curtain Wall | 2013 | Two glass panes, polystyrene bead fill at night — insulation; collection: The Brant Foundation |
| Water School | 2019 | Exhibition at MSU Broad Museum; companion schools in CA and MN |
Venues mentioned
Tuazon’s work has appeared at: Chicago MCA, the Whitney, Centre Georges Pompidou, Art Basel, Venice Biennale, MSU Broad Museum (Water School, through August 26, 2019).
Notes
- Article dates the “Zome Home” to 1972, not 1971 — likely referring to completion/occupation date vs. construction start
- “Dome Cookbook (1969)” — article cites 1969; archive has 2nd printing 1968/1969; difference unresolved
- Curtain Wall with polystyrene beads is effectively a Beadwall variant, though Beadwall (Dave Harrison / Zomeworks patent) is not named