Client: University of Pennsylvania

Directed, Cinematography, & Editing: Derick Crucius

Michelle Lopez pushes the boundaries of materials in a new room-sized exhibition, “Ballast & Barricades,” at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA).

The site-specific installation, on display until May 10, features construction-derived materials hanging from, and reaching up to, the 30-foot-high gallery ceiling. Steel pipes, chain-link fencing, wooden barricades, and bright orange ropes fill the room from top to bottom, all connected, balanced by a 1,000-pound piece of a building salvaged from a teardown in Northeast Philadelphia.