Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Benjamin Ball’s Pour Me Another installation exemplifies Ball-Nogues Studio’s commitment to experimenting with materials and processes, drawing inspiration from mid-century abstract painters like Jackson Pollock and contemporary sculptors such as Lynda Benglis and Gaetano Pesce.
The installation features monumental domes crafted by pouring tinted urethane foam in multiple layers, resulting in vibrant structures that are both aesthetically striking and wind-resistant.
In recognition of its innovative design, Pour Me Another has received a 2024 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The interiors of these domes are smooth and translucent, reminiscent of “light coming through a bowl of melted Jolly Ranchers,” while the exteriors present a textured appearance described as “cultivated slop.”
This duality invites visitors to explore and physically engage with the artwork, enhancing their sensory experience.
This site-specific commission was conceived as an open-ended playscape for people of all ages.
Created for Brooks Outside, an innovative curatorial program by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art that involves a series of outdoor installations, Pour Me Another was an interactive installation that embodied the program’s aim to take the museum beyond its walls, engaging with the community and environment in unique and ephemeral ways.
The design approach was based on a process of discovery: how the potential of materials and manufacturing can be expanded and used in non-conventional ways.
They experimented with “the pour,” which resonates with such mid-century abstract painters as Jackson Pollock, and contemporary sculptors and designers like Lynda Benglis and Gaetano Pesce.
The architects poured tinted urethane foam in multiple layers to produce monumental structures that are aesthetically vibrant and structurally wind resistant.
While the interior of the domes is smooth, like a painting, and similar to “light coming through a bowl of melted Jolly Ranchers,” the exterior appears like a “cultivated slop.”
The team’s process entailed developing a system of pours that were both controlled and loose.
Letting go is the flip side of control. If one is conscious of it, letting go can be another mode of control.
It is knowing when and where to let go that keeps the work from becoming a chaotic heap, a seemingly apt metaphor for the turbulent events of the time of its creation in 2021, and so many collective attempts at control, containing chaos, and embracing liberation.
Project: Pour Me Another
Architects: Ball-Nogues Studio
Lead Architect: Benjamin Ball
General Contractor: BNS, LLC.
Client: Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Photographers: Benjamin Ball and Maria Ferguson
