Floating Lab Collective: Collaborative Art & Research

Book of Latent Promises

This collective documentary project centered on sustainable printmaking in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Following the 2010 earthquake, we created a traveling workshop that transformed rubble surfaces into printed documents. The project examines broken promises through physical debris, treating earthquake fragments as witnesses to failed reconstruction commitments. By inking and transferring these surfaces, we created a fragmentary map—a traveling manifesto of what remains unbuilt.

How the project works

Workshops

Local artisans collaborated to transform rubble surfaces into an artistic map of the disaster through hands-on printmaking sessions.

Mobile Cart

A mobile cart, designed after Port-au-Prince's street transportation, serves as a modular platform for printing, exhibitions, and community engagement.

Sustainable Production

Working with the PPA Foundation's recycling initiatives, we developed all materials on-site: paper from street waste, ink from local charcoal and traditional ingredients, and printing tools fabricated from found metal.

Scalable Community Engagement

Built from locally available, cost-effective materials for replication by any community, the cart and all knowledge now belong to a collective of female artists who use it as an urban platform for creative dissent.

The project used included hand recyclable products built and shared by local artisans. Learn more about each element.