aloft




Jacob Irish

CAFKA.25 Biennial
June 7 - July 26, 2025
Kitchener, ON

Kitchener City Hall Rotunda


aloft examines how components of human experience are measured, defined, and quantified by the policies that govern a specific location. Measurement operates as an act of translation that carries structuring power over the bodies subjected to it. By defining the minimum viable space for a human body, housing markets and municipal zoning translate a fundamental need into standardized data points, establishing the physical constraints tenants are forced to inhabit.

aloft is a suspended, skeletal dwelling. The footprint of the structure is tied directly to regional policy. This first iteration, commissioned for the CAFKA.25 Biennial, measures 188 square feet, corresponding to the smallest legal dwelling footprint in Ontario. 

The installation grounds the viewer's spatial perception in the specific legislative reality of the host region. aloft seeks to invoke new spatial understandings between policy, body, and the built environment.


I would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council in the production of this work. Their support went a long way to being able to afford the space to make this work. 







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