Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Friday, March 28, 2008

And are our cities amusement parks or places to live and work (and spend money)

(I am part of the problem on this myself, believing in harvesting cultural heritage and cultural assets for economic development purposes.) See "Turning cities into art galleries" from the Christian Science Monitor.

From the article:

Acknowledging the complexities a public artist must navigate, more art schools, such as USC's Roski School of Fine Arts in Los Angeles, are offering programs in public-art studies and practice. "They recognize it is a discipline that requires special training," says Janney.

Public art is markedly different from a private gallery show, admits Steiner, since it can "make ripples in the life of a city and impact people who see it."

Just last night I was talking with my girlfriend (repeating myself really), about what I think of as the most powerful public art installation I have ever seen, about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, at the Expo Center yellow line Tri-Met light rail stop in Portland, Oregon.
Expo Gates, Valerie Otani, Expo Center, Portland, Oregon
Valerie Otani addresses the theme of Japanese relocation during World War II at the site of the 1942 Portland Assembly Center. Traditional Japanese timber gates strung with metal "internee ID tags" mark station entrances. Vintage news articles are etched in steel and wrapped around the gate legs. (The artist spoke to us on our tour. And the headlines of the newspapers included in the work were vicious and racist. )

What blows me away about this installation is that the Tri-Met authority isn't gutless, that they spent public money on challenging public art. I just don't see that kind of willingness to challenge being present on the part of typical government agencies or elected officials in the DC region.

Labels: , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home