Chris Woebken Studio is a participatory futures practice based in Brooklyn, New York, on the traditional and unceded homeland of the Lenape. The studio creates installations, objects, workshops and public programs with communities and cultural organizations. Its projects often rework service requests, legal filings, hotlines and shop counters into ways for people to imagine and act on other futures.
A recurring question is who gets counted. Animal Superpowers (2007), made with Kenichi Okada, invited children to borrow other species’ senses. The Office of Non-Human Standing (2026) generates documents modeled on legal filings for oysters, horseshoe crabs and bees, framing their ecological work as labor.
Participation, funding and credit are part of the work. For New Public Hydrant, participants in the Water Is… workshop with Youth Design Center received honoraria and credit as concept co-creators. MoMA commissioned and funded design development and later acquired four prototypes. Part of the acquisition proceeds was donated to the center. This is an example of reciprocal commissioning: institutional support helps develop participants’ ideas and returns resources to their community. The collaborations index records the people, groups and organizations behind the projects and teaching.
Woebken co-founded Extrapolation Factory with Elliott P. Montgomery in 2012. Selected work from that collaboration appears here alongside current studio projects. He has held residencies at Rhizome, Eyebeam, Headlands Center for the Arts, MacDowell, Pioneer Works and the Walker Art Center. His work has been exhibited at MoMA, the New Museum and the National Museum of China, and is held in the collections of MoMA and the Nevada Museum of Art. He holds an MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art.
Full CV
A recurring question is who gets counted. Animal Superpowers (2007), made with Kenichi Okada, invited children to borrow other species’ senses. The Office of Non-Human Standing (2026) generates documents modeled on legal filings for oysters, horseshoe crabs and bees, framing their ecological work as labor.
Participation, funding and credit are part of the work. For New Public Hydrant, participants in the Water Is… workshop with Youth Design Center received honoraria and credit as concept co-creators. MoMA commissioned and funded design development and later acquired four prototypes. Part of the acquisition proceeds was donated to the center. This is an example of reciprocal commissioning: institutional support helps develop participants’ ideas and returns resources to their community. The collaborations index records the people, groups and organizations behind the projects and teaching.
Woebken co-founded Extrapolation Factory with Elliott P. Montgomery in 2012. Selected work from that collaboration appears here alongside current studio projects. He has held residencies at Rhizome, Eyebeam, Headlands Center for the Arts, MacDowell, Pioneer Works and the Walker Art Center. His work has been exhibited at MoMA, the New Museum and the National Museum of China, and is held in the collections of MoMA and the Nevada Museum of Art. He holds an MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art.
Full CV
For commissions, exhibitions and public programs:
hello@chriswoebken.com
studio location: 21 Flushing Ave, Building 212, Suite 201, Brooklyn, NY 11205
socials: Instagram, Flickr, Youtube
elsewhere: co-curating this NYC arts events gcal
Current & Upcoming:
Jan 2027: ANIMALS TURN, HART HOUSE, Hong Kong
Fall 2026: Water // Ways Cloudburst Initiative, commissioned by City as a Living Laboratory (CALL), NY, US
Fall 2026: Participatory Art For Society Engagement with Ocean and Water with partners blueOASIS and Anda&Fala, Azores, PT, EU
Fall 2026: Bard Graduate Center, Visiting Fellowship, NYC, US
hello@chriswoebken.com
studio location: 21 Flushing Ave, Building 212, Suite 201, Brooklyn, NY 11205
socials: Instagram, Flickr, Youtube
elsewhere: co-curating this NYC arts events gcal
Current & Upcoming:
Jan 2027: ANIMALS TURN, HART HOUSE, Hong Kong
Fall 2026: Water // Ways Cloudburst Initiative, commissioned by City as a Living Laboratory (CALL), NY, US
Fall 2026: Participatory Art For Society Engagement with Ocean and Water with partners blueOASIS and Anda&Fala, Azores, PT, EU
Fall 2026: Bard Graduate Center, Visiting Fellowship, NYC, US