The 9th Floor Case Project addresses themes of history, archaeology, archiving and collection. Urban Residue, the 2019-20 installation, is a documentation of Columbia’s urban ecosystem by artists Sonia Kahn and Rosaline Qi.
Urban Residue is a project of contemporary visual archaeology. This blue and white cabinet of curiosities presents the curiosities of our time. It acts in part as an homage to Anna Atkins, who pioneered the use of the cyanotype photographic process for scientific illustration. The juxtaposition of this 19th century imaging technology with 21st century 3-D printed sculptures encourages reflection upon the changes and continuities between the work of women scientists and artists in the 19th and 21st centuries, and also on the rapidly changing environmental conditions that we inhabit today.
Sonia Kahn (Columbia College, 2022) is an Art History and Visual Arts major. Her art practice incorporates various types of media ranging from printmaking to photography, weaving and projection. Often making use of found material, Sonia visually explores her environment and uses image manipulation as a means of examining and understanding the world.
Rosaline Qi (Columbia College, 2022) is double majoring in English Literature and Visual Arts. Her creations exist primarily in virtual space in the form of .obj, .psd, and .jpg files so this installation offers an opportunity to transport her work into the material realm. Rosaline uses computerized means to capture nature, describing the geometric and curvilinear patterns found in the organic with a digital visual vocabulary.