Photo courtesy of Jordan Gehley
Four hundred eighty-three vertical rusted steel pipes suspended from a large metal plate form a metaphoric cage with bar graph walls and a cavernous void that depicts American racial inequality. This is the nexus of Society’s Cage, a 14-foot temporary pavilion on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Encircling it is an interpretive educational experience about racist lynchings, police terrorism, mass incarceration and capital punishment as the primary institutional structures of anti-Black state violence. Open to the public for two weeks during this August and September, it is intended to be exhibited in a new location in the Washington metro region, and eventually tour other cities.
Architect: SmithGroup, Washington, D.C., www.smithgroup.com
Fabricators: Gronning Design + Manufacturing, Washington, D.C., www.gronningarchitects.com;and Mejia Ironworks, Hyattsville, Md., www.mejiaironworks.com
Structural engineer: Robert Silman Associates, Washington, D.C., www.silman.com
Photo courtesy of Alan Karchmer
