At New York’s Swiss Institute, SoiL Thornton ponders the role an art institution can play in the face of a housing crisis

At New York’s Swiss Institute, Brooklyn-based artist SoiL Thornton’s exhibition “Metabolizing eviction try, work_mp3 and other games of topping” runs through 5 July and centers on power relations and housing precarity in the city. A key work, “evict relief” (dated 2026), presents Thornton’s eviction notice served on 18 September 2025, legal filings, and emails with Swiss Institute chief curator Alison Coplan and director Stefanie Hessler. The documents show Thornton faced a court-ordered payment schedule totaling $53,014.33 to resolve a landlord dispute within less than three months, and proposed that the institution gift the remaining $22,296 needed to clear the debt as part of the artwork. The piece frames the transaction as institutional critique, questioning what counts as art and what responsibilities cultural organizations have amid New York’s housing crisis.

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