SO — IL's nine chapel in brooklyn hosts series of verso installations

verso arrives in brooklyn with three shows

Verso returns to New York with a site-specific takeover at Nine Chapel, a Brooklyn condominium designed by SO — IL and developed by Tankhouse. The exhibition coincides with New York Design Week and brings Verso’s distinctive curatorial approach into dialogue with architecture, inhabiting three private residences and the resident lounge of the fourteen-story tower. The interplay between Verso and Nine Chapel unfolds not as a staging of objects within interiors, but as a full immersion into crafted domestic environments shaped by both artistic vision and architectural rigor.

The exhibitions are open to the public from May 16th to 23rd, 2025. Visitors are invited to explore Nine Chapel as both a built project and an evolving exhibition, where architecture becomes the connective tissue between design practices from across the globe.

Nine Chapel features a shimmering, undulated facade made of perforated aluminum | image © Val Flores

verso anchors itself in SO – IL’s architecture

The decision to stage exhibitions inside Nine Chapel marks a shift in scale and context for Verso, which has often moved fluidly between galleries and informal spaces. At Nine Chapel, the gallery aligns itself with the architecture’s formal and material sensibility. SO – IL’s design lends the building a distinctive presence in the Brooklyn skyline, its undulating facade of perforated aluminum subtly catching and diffusing the light. For Verso, this textured surface became an echo of PASTO, a years-long collaboration with Argentine studio RIES, whose cast aluminum works form the centerpiece of the ground-floor exhibition.

all images © Ben DeHaan (unless otherwise stated)

Pasto by Ries

Verso introduces PASTO in Nine Chapel’s resident lounge, connecting the tactile language of the building’s skin to RIES’ exploration of time, land, and transformation. Developed over three years, the project involved casting aluminum using native grasses from the Argentine Pampas as lost molds. Each object preserves the imprint of a fragile material made permanent through fire and metal. The lounge becomes more than a shared amenity — it is reimagined as a vessel for memory, holding sculptural works alongside a documentary and book that trace the conceptual and geographic origins of the project.

Verso takes over three residences and the resident lounge of Nine Chapel

Wentz

In Nine Chapel’s Penthouse B, Verso presents the first U.S. showcase of Brazilian brand Wentz. Known for its refined material palette and nature-infused minimalism, the studio brings a contemplative presence to the residence. Furniture and lighting crafted from Brazilian woods, cane, and recycled textiles engage with the surrounding light and open skyline views. At the core of this installation is WE—KNIT, a proprietary 3D-woven fabric made from ocean-harvested PET bottles. The apartment feels composed in quiet layers, a spatial translation of Wentz’s ethos of ‘silent and natural living.’

the PASTO exhibition includes sculptural pieces, a documentary video, and a research-based book

Verso & Friends

On the building’s tenth floor, Verso curates a second edition of Verso & Friends, the evolving group exhibition first launched at 96 King in Red Hook. The duplex is transformed into a fluid studio-like space, shaped by contributions from a network of artists and designers in conversation with Nine Chapel’s geometries and finishes. Pieces are placed with sensitivity to scale and proportion, allowing the architecture to frame each object without overpowering it. The project reads as a living archive of ongoing creative exchange, temporarily embedded within the condominium.

Verso presents PASTO by RIES in the resident lounge with cast aluminum works using native grasses