AMBULANTE
Location: Hudson River Community Health Center | New York, NY, 2006 – 2007
10 ft x 16 ft x 8 ft (3.05 m x 1.83 m x 2.44 m)
Acrylic, convex lens, LEDs, custom lighting sequence, and electrical hardware.
AMBULANTE is a public art commission in which Amorós transformed a thirty-six-foot mobile dental clinic traveling across rural New York State into a rolling work of public art, its acrylic bubble forms, LED sequence, and teal chalkboard exterior turning a community health vehicle into a joyful, participatory space that draws on the beloved street vendors of Amorós’s Lima childhood.
- One of the most distinctive commissions in Amorós’s practice, AMBULANTE extends her engagement with Hudson River HealthCare beyond architectural installation into the design of a fully functional mobile dental unit, making it among the few works in her career that operates simultaneously as public art and as a vehicle of direct community health service.
- The work’s name and visual character were drawn from the ambulantes of Lima, the beloved street carts and trucks that dispensed candy, toys, and games through Amorós’s childhood neighborhood, creating joyful, spontaneous public gatherings that she sought to recreate in the context of rural healthcare access in New York State.
- Playful acrylic bubbles affixed to the van’s exterior contain interchangeable photographs of community members who have set positive examples of dental health, personalizing the vehicle for each community it visits and transforming patients into participants and local role models.
- The van’s lower exterior was painted with teal chalkboard paint, providing children with an active creative surface to draw on while accompanying parents to appointments, ensuring that every stop becomes a moment of community interaction and imaginative play rather than a purely clinical encounter.
The project “Ambulante” consists of a mobile dental clinic that travels throughout several rural regions of New York State, providing both oral examinations and dental health education. It includes two fully equipped exam rooms, high-tech x-ray machinery, and a variety of educational materials, all contained within a thirty-six foot long van.
Growing up in Peru, the word “ambulante” stirs up memories of the delightful like-named carts and trucks that dispensed sundry wares such as candy, toys and games around the streets of Lima. Reminiscent of America’s ice cream trucks, they created pleasant, dynamic public spaces, which brought together and unified the diverse members of the community. In hopes that the mobile dental clinic will prove to be as edifying for the communities it serves, I have found inspiration for both the name and the motif of this project from the fond memories of the ambulantes of my childhood. The colors of the design are based on the insignia and interior decoration of the Hudson River HealthCare Center in Peekskill and were selected for their bright appearances. Playful acrylic bubbles attached to the exterior of the van will contain selected pictures of individuals in the community who have set a positive example of dental health. These pictures are interchangeable to allow the van to be personalized for each community. Lastly, special teal blackboard paint was used on the lower portion of the vehicle, providing an active creative space in which children can draw with chalk to use their imaginations.
The design of the mobile dental clinic is intended to evoke a sense of joy associated with the treats of the ambulantes of my own childhood. I want to inspire greater consciousness of public health issues to create an active public space that will foster community interaction and growth.
Hudson River HealthCare is a network of fourteen community health centers located in Peekskill, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Amenia, Dover Plains, Pine Plains, New Paltz, Goshen, Haverstraw, Greenport, Walden and Monticello.