Time USA – September 02, 2019

Defying

expectations

SFER IK

Tulum, Mexico

SFER IK doesn’t look like

an ordinary exhibition

space—and that’s the point.

The Tulum location’s nestlike

structure was conceived as a

place where avant-garde artists

could gather and envision new

ways to create, inspired by

their unusual environs. Made

of locally sourced wood and

cement, the space’s ceilings

and walls are trimmed with

plants sprouting along circular

apertures to the world outside.

Its current exhibition includes

a diaphanous purple cloak

suspended from the ceiling—

an allusion, in part, to elevated

states of consciousness by artist

Bianca Bondi. Entry is free, so

long as visitors agree to walk the

floors barefoot. ÑWilder Davies

AUSTRALIA’S

ANCESTRAL HOME

ULURU–KATA TJUTA

NATIONAL PARK

Northern Territory, Australia

At the center of Uluru–

Kata Tjuta National Park

is the physical and cultural heart

of Australia, a red sandstone

monolith called Uluru (or

Ayers Rock, its colonial name)

that towers over the outback’s

desert plains. The park is a

UNESCO World Heritage Site and

sacred to the aboriginal Anangu,

who’ve inhabited the land for

tens of thousands of years.

Despite these protections,

the 1,142-ft.-tall rock has

been marred for decades by

poles and cables that allow

visitors to climb the site. That

changes in October, when the

government will officially close

Uluru to climbing, ensuring the

monument sustains no further

human damage.

—Hannah Lott-Schwartz

LIVING LIBRARY

VAC LIBRARY

Hanoi

Part library, part urban

farm, part playground, this

Farming Architects project in

Hanoi is geared toward teaching

kids about ecosystems and

agriculture. The VAC Library’s

climbable wooden structure

contains both a small collection

of books and a mini-ecosystem

comprising a garden, a fish

pond and a chicken coop—all

connected through aquaponics.

Waste from the koi pond is used

as fertilizer to help vegetables

grow, which cleanses the water

and returns it to the pond.

Chickens raised in cages within

the structure provide eggs and

waste that also help the plants

flourish. Visitors can lounge and

read the books stored in cubbies

beneath the library’s solar

panel-fitted roof, and children

are welcome to clamber up its

beams. —Mahita Gajanan

SHINTA MANI WILD: ELISE HASSEY; MUSEUM OF BLACK CIVILIZATIONS: OUMY DIAW; COURTESY SFER IK 97