DISASTER KIT is a conceptual project of California-based artist Trevor Babb, presented as a site-specific installation at WORK. This exhibit of functional art offers elegant solutions to the many problems associated with surviving or recovering from disaster. A collection of portable vessels, outfitted with equipment and supplies, demonstrate how one might provision for needs like water, food, heat, light, health, shelter, defense, transport and communication. Taking materials, objects and cues from the 19th and early-20th century, Babb conjures up a past life with the tools for starting a new one. Sponsored in-part by the Brooklyn Arts Council. An open-house reception on Friday, June 12 at 7:30 pm will feature a live performance by renowned baritone Matthew Worth.

Trevor Babb acquired survival skills in the Amazon, Andes, Balkans and South China Sea. He worked with a small team of disaster-relief logisticians to design, build and supply a refugee camp during the 1999 Serbian invasion of Kosovo. He has developed emergency-services contingency plans as a matter of public policy for political campaigns in San Francisco. An outsider to traditional art communities, he combines field experience, abstract thinking and precise craftsmanship to create thought-provoking objects. This will be the first showing of his work in a gallery setting.