Maren Hassinger’s sculptures attune to the formal connections between the natural world and the built environment, using industrial materials like wire rope and concrete to create organic forms that reference plant life, often leaning on their surroundings or even moving in response to environmental conditions.

Commissioned by Project EATS, Hassinger’s site-specific installation Industrial Nature (2022) appeared to bloom amidst the raised planting beds at the Project EATS Essex Crossing Rooftop Farm and Marcus Garvey Apartments Farm. Helical strands of wire rope, standing tall while tilting forward in their concrete block bases, swayed gently in the breeze, evoking a new type of urban companion plant standing sentry over the orderly rows of growing crops. 

Situated within an urban agricultural context, Hassinger’s sculptures invite us to reflect on the materiality of modernity and consider the nature of industrial “production” and economic “progress” in contrast to organic produce and collective nourishment.