It used to be an eyesore. Now it\u2019s a public space enjoyed by everyone.<\/p>\n

The story begins in 2011 when a group of well-meaning citizens purchased an older bungalow in downtown York, Alabama with the intention of turning it into a daycare. Unfortunately they couldn’t afford the repairs and the structure fell into disrepair. It soon became an embarrassment to the city and to its neighbours.<\/p>\n

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Enter conceptual artist\u00a0Matthew Mazzotta<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>and the\u00a0Coleman Center for the Arts<\/strong>. The Coleman Center is a York, Alabama organization that uses art to spearhead social change and build local pride. It runs a spate of programs which partner the community with local and visiting artists. Mazzotta is a conceptual artist with a Masters of Science in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology specializing in public installations. The Centre reached out to the artist and presto, a project was born. Mazzotta and his volunteer army disassembled the old house and retrieved some elements before the city fire department it ablaze and finished the job. The materials he salvaged became the building blocks of a sculpture called\u00a0Open House<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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Think of Transformers, the toy not the movie.\u00a0Open House<\/i>\u00a0looks like a standard house with windows, a door and a pitched roof. The pink siding comes from the original structure. But looks can be deceiving because with a few deft moves, well two hours of manual labour actually, the fully articulated structure unfolds into an open-air, 100-seat community theatre with raked seating. You can see the change below.<\/p>\n