Eight tradespeople from different professions— plumbing, painting, masonry, windows/doors, roofing, electrical, flooring, and weatherization—were invited to The Fargo House to talk about their work in the construction industry, and their attitudes towards houses and city building. Each tradesperson was commissioned to build a ‘house model’ utilizing only the materials of his or her respective trade. The house models later became the genesis of a superstructure entitled The House of Collective Repair.
House of the Plumber, by Jamillah Green
House of the Window and Door Restorer, by Daniel Farrell
House of the Roofer, by Chris Ziolkowski
House of the Painter, by Joseph Galvin
House of the Mason, by Dave Hill
Tower House of the Electrician, by Peter Szalay
Patio House of the Floor Refinisher, by Joaquin Arristozabal
The House Mirages are moments of imagined house reconstruction. They are the result of dialogic recollection between the house and its inhabitant, created through the assembly of drawings and photographs in the house’s archive.
The Collector’s Books are one-of-a-kind books that have been found at estate sales, flea markets, antique stores and other second-hand sites. Each book contains a collection that is a testament to its maker’s obsessions. The books include photo albums, journals, scrap books, sketchbooks, class notebooks, hobbyest notes, and other personal records.
The Core Samples are selected fragments of the house that have been translated into wood models at full scale. Realized by architecture students at University at Buffalo, the core samples expose the constructive dissonance between the house as heterogeneous assemblage and as idealization of formal and spatial unity.
2014. With Colleen Stillwell (Butter Block) and Claire Schneider (CS1 Projects).
This one-night dinner event was conceived as a coordinated procession of people and food through nine rooms of the Fargo House. The dinner, a collaboration between Maher and culinary expert Colleen Stillwell (Butter Block) and curated/organized by Claire Schneider (CS1 Projects), proceeded in stages over the course of the evening. Each dinner guest experienced nine different courses in nine different atmospheres of the house. The ingredients, presentation and taste of each course were designed to resonate with the rooms within which each plate was set. The cycling of guests and culinary delights through the house was meant to echo the movements of objects and materials that are continually re-organized inside. As guests moved from “Parlor Play Room” to “Bridge Room” to “Library” to “Wardrobe Room,” the corresponding dishes allowed for senses of taste and smell to be brought into alignment with those of touch, sound, and sight. Participants in this experience consumed the house—its walls, floors, ceilings, furnishings and objects— by simultaneously consuming its culinary equivalents.
