A great site that is holding my attention hostage this morning. Check it out for a variety of fresh perspectives on one of the most important issues in the contemporary city. Few sites I have come across investigate what makes public spaces successful, desirable, and heavily used in the same way that Project for Public Spaces does. Joy.
And bit more of failed public space from my own travel experiences.
Something shocking is happening in Minneapolis. A group of artists are undertaking a project to make art on the facades of unused buildings in the city. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the slickly printed, well designed signs for this type of work (I prefer guerilla style or ephemeral projects in public space). Intersecting artistic/private aesthetic interests with public space rarely works… but the Save Canvas project presented by Overproof Design Studio actually succeeds in its aims. It has been a pleasure to watch the empty structure along Nicollet avenue be turned into a work of art. Especially since this is the site of the unrealized Nicollet condo project (a 60 floor glass high-rise that never materialized thanks to the economic downturn).
Definitely check out their work.
On another note, I am reminded of something distinctly beautiful about the public sphere in Montreal. The city seemed to be predisposed to giving up automobile traffic for pedestrianized streets. In Minneapolis we have the “National Night Out” every year, during which certain blocks are closed to vehicular traffic. It takes a special event here to get people onto the street and walking around. In stark contrast, the above posters in Montreal indicate that the pedestrian is almost synonymous with the urban experience.
All of these images have been posted to my Facebook and Flickr accounts… but I feel it is a suitable day to post them again (with a bit more color correction). Actually, it was on this day that Charles de Gaulle gave his Vive le Québec libre ! (Long live free Quebec!) speech. This speech further encouraged the Québec Sovereignty movement… and I feel that this spirit of idealism is reflected in the spaces of the city fabric. I’ll make some huge generalizations here about Montreal from the tiny amount of research I have done on its attempt to be re-born. The scale and speed that Montreal was reformed in the 60s is truly remarkable… and if you travel to the city, it is apparent in the city’s metro system, public plazas, and (often) graceless modernist boxes. The above images represent a slice of the concept of public space I experienced while traveling. On one hand, the city is haunted by the empty and clunky buildings of the Olympic stadium. On the other hand, revitalized public spaces draw citizens into high-density housing developments. As I’m sitting at my desk, gazing out my window at the empty/lifeless streets of MPLS I wonder… how refreshing could American cities be if there was a concerted effort to make public spaces desirable, usable, and enjoyable?
Wow. That is an incredibly pompous way of saying I decided to go for a crazy long walk with Curtis yesterday to look at various buildings in the public sphere. We took off on foot… and proceeded to become tourists in our own city. If you have the means (feet) and the time (2hrs +) to do this… I can’t encourage it enough. I feel refreshed and interested… again.
This little adventure is starting to spark some actual art-based experimentation… finally. (more…)
I’ve been running around like crazy lately. The process of moving to a new apartment is… more stressful than I remember. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to update this blog as much as I would have liked.
Something good…
I’m beginning to shake off the frigid weight of winter and photograph again, with hopes of eventually building a portfolio of architectural photography.
While that is starting to simmer on the back burner, I am also beginning to expand on the dialog that was initiated with a post on Dec. 05. A post on Elysium, the blog of Colleen Mullins, caught the attention of another blogger… creating a trifecta of discussion about the role of the market in art production.
Check out the first question in the discussion here…
Americans are either in their cars, in their homes, or in shopping malls.
The sense of public space in the contemporary American city is so exceptionally abbreviated it seems that I am able to pass to and from work without ever really having to navigate a truly “public” place. I get up in the morning, and pass from my house to an abandoned street of private homes and get onto a bus that systematically seals me off from the public sphere passing outside. When I arrive at work, I migrate upwards into the sky-ways and am deluged by an array of private interests and intentions – starting with some corporate architect’s premeditated control of my movement and ending with the various retail establishments that pull me in to spend money.
There is never a sense of openness, possibility, or social exchange in the mock public environment I’m surrounded by. I guess I’m comparing this to the various public spaces I’ve spent time in – The Zocalo area in Mexico City or Central Park or the Museum Plein in Amsterdam. There is something that is distinctly lost when public space is mutated and downsized as it is in Minneapolis. Supposedly there is a new public space opening up – Target Plaza… next to Target Field… next to the Target Center.
Does it bother anyone else that we are so willing to have our open forum spaces co-opted by a corporation’s private PR interests?
With the above thoughts in mind, I intend to actually start doing some work again (keeping in mind, I can’t really make any prints until this time next year). A couple of goals for this project/direction:
Research the history of the corporate sponsorship of art, architecture, and the public sphere.
Photograph the spaces that constitute public space, in its abbreviated and shrunken state.
Intervene in the dialog between the accessibility and inaccessibility of the public and private, corporate and free.
5B4 is featuring the rather amazing work of Guy Tilim. I couldn’t be more interested in his images right now. As a die-hard lover/admirer/photographer of the relics of Modernist architecture, Tilim’s images blow my skirt up, way up and over my head. LINK
I’ve been planning a major trip to South America to photograph Brasilia for two years. Seeing the viability, depth, and richness of Tilim’s work makes me want to punish my VISA card and buy some tickets.
Anyone out there up for a trip to a Modernist Utopia?
*****
There are certain things I’ve learned about myself over the last 3 months that continue to amaze me. Things like how many gin and tonics I can drink. How delightful an ice-cold Cornonita can while driving throught the desert in a Toyota Prius. And…
How much I like French-Speaking boys.
They’re dangerous. Alot like the haircuts and dancemoves in this Vive la Fete video for Touche Pas:
*****
Finally, the image of the day. I found this amazing building when I first moved here in 2005. Its been graffitied, burned, reviled, spit-upon, and imploded. With any luck, the condo-crazy gay men will NOT be able to knock it over to build yet another generic building.
I cannot think of anything worse than living in a city filled with wifey gay men who are home owners. Someone out there has to offer a smidgen of difference.
