INHABITATION, DEPART-MENT's Fall 2022 exhibit, brings to center the impact fossil fuels — and the means through which we have sourced and processed them — have had on our ecosystems and our bodies. Through thoughtful engagement with material byproducts of extraction  DEPART-MENT residents Flora Cabili and Kira Ackerman attempt to move away from the concept of “colonial habitation” that theorist Malcolm Ferdinand writes about, wherein land and people are seen as disposable resources. Through interactive installations, hands-on workshops, and community conversations, INHABITATION invites us to relate and reimagine our relationships to the built environment and one another — while challenging us to reflect on our responsibilities to the lands we inhabit.

This immersive installation allows us to examine the materiality of our relationship with petroleum byproducts. By adapting and manipulating Extracted Polystyrene foam material without transforming it, how can we reconsider its nature and the manipulation of nature? Where do we stand in this process now and in the future?