Detroit-based artist Scott Hocking finds intrigue in the transformation of everyday objects into relics. Examining discarded urban artifacts and the role of nature as it gains power over the man-made, he explores a fading industrial age. Documenting the present—in its evolutions and decompositions—Hocking views these abandoned spaces and objects not as downtrodden keepsakes of a greater time, but as reminders that change is inevitable. Inside these varied, forgotten spaces, Hocking builds new structures: mounds, ziggurats, and pyramids created from abandoned materials. He takes photographs documenting the construction, but they are otherwise left to be destroyed or found by future explorers.

For his exhibition in The Front Room, Hocking explores the history of Native American mound structures once prevalent in what is now St. Louis. Mapping out the locations where these mounds once stood—from parking lots, vacant industrial parks, and even a riverside “tent city”—Hocking collides past and present, setting contemporary conditions against reenactments of forgotten histories.

Scott Hocking is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Cole Root, Exhibitions Manager.