Rebecca Herman and Mark Shoffner’s sculptures, installations, and works in the public sphere consider iconic vernacular architecture of punishment and societal control, such as the pillory and the gallows.

The outdoor gallery features Village Green, an interactive sculpture based on the public pillory or “stocks” used in early colonial America. A contemporary interpretation of the rituals of punishment and public shaming, Village Green is an eight-sided pillory, 12 feet in width, with three circles cut out of each side to allow voluntary insertion of one’s heads and hands. Up to eight people will face each other in the stocks, creating a communal-policing situation that suggests a makeshift, self-imposed jail and societal pressure for surveillance of one’s fellow citizens. This modern reincarnation of the pillory refers to American desires for an idealized yet highly restrained “village” community in which society’s rules are enforced in the public arena.

The outdoor gallery also features Hunting Blind, two 12-foot tall triangular pieces that scale the high concrete walls. The imposing blinds use a naturalistic leaf pattern to mimic the forest and transpose the outdoor architecture used by hunters to this social urban setting. Visitors will be able to position themselves behind the blind for discreet viewing of the octagonal pillory.