Studio Ossidiana: Pond Theater

Pond Theater, created by Rotterdam-based design duo Studio Ossidiana, transforms the ICA’s Thinking Field Martha Daniel Newell Reflection pool into a social and contemplative environment. The fiberglass-and-wood circular platform float atop the pond basin, its boat-like forms creating convivial spaces for seating, play, and informal gathering.

Exploring the intersections of ecology, architecture, and human connection, the commission reimagines the boundary between interior and exterior, between museum and city. Through staged events, public programs, and spontaneous encounters, Pond Theater becomes a site of fluid engagement. With the water, the building, and with one another.

Pond Theater inaugurates Broad Signals, the ICA’s ongoing public art commissioning series for the exterior of the Markel Center. The commission will open to the public June 5.

About Studio Ossidiana:

Studio Ossidiana works across architecture, installation, and spatial practice, with a focus on the porous edges between built environments and living ecologies. Pond Theater marks their first major commission in the United States. Studio Ossidiana is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Their work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Istanbul Design Biennale, Chicago Architecture Biennale, Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, and Shenzhen Architecture Biennale.

About Broad Signals:
The ICA at VCU is excited to introduce Broad Signals, a new public art commission series that invites internationally renowned artists to transform the exterior of our Steven Holl-designed Markel Center and surroundings into a living site for artistic experimentation. Activating our creative intersection of Broad and Belvidere Streets, the series creates opportunities for visitors to gather, connect, and encounter contemporary art within the rhythms of everyday life. Broad Signals launches this summer with a celebration of Studio Ossidiana’s Pond Theater, opening June 5.