Nomo

Michael J. Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygen, Wisconsin • 2010

Wowhaus realized a series of community-engaged projects as artists in residence at the John Michael Kohler Art Center’s Connecting Communities Artist Residency Program in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Over the course of five weeks, we worked closely with students of two high schools, residents of a battered women’s shelter, a senior center, and a Hmong cultural group, among others. Under the moniker ‘NOMO’ (our invented contraction of ‘Non-Motorized Transportation’), we staged DIY workshops and a public exposition where we invited people to participate in the promotion and visualization of alternative modes of transport including bicycling, walking and skateboarding. Workshops featured collective hand-stitching of an 8’ x 3’ map, wood-burning skate decks with native fish, and shaping a giant wooden sailboard. The residency culminated in a popular NOMO exhibition that we designed, curated and installed at the Kohler Art Center.