Public Intervention / Creative Disruption

This method of work is often characterized by attempting to engage the unsuspecting viewer in his or her everyday life, by interrupting, intervening or even disrupting their daily life in some way.  Most people have patterns, habits that they follow each day.  You are looking for a way to intersect with that pattern.  You are looking to create something that someone takes notice of, even for just a moment, so that they might diverge from that pattern for just a moment.

This project will be an actualized public intervention in which you will communicate with a public audience.  It may be a miniscule or slight gesture that is only seem by the most observant passers-by.  It may be an overt gesture, where you acrually engage the viewer in conversation.

ENTRANCE – ways to enter into this project:

1. ISSUE BASED – Is there a specific issue that you feel strongly about and would like to act on, or comment on in some way? That issue may be a public or social issue – global, national, regional or local.  Examples: Global warming, Genocide in Darfur, Health Care in the US, Crime rate in Philadelphia.  OR, your issue can be more personal in nature.  Examples: cost of education, family, relationships, etc. Any issue is valid as a subject–  from personal to far reaching – from political to social and beyond.
2. SITE BASED – Is there a particular site or place that interests you, yet you know little about it?  It is peculiar, odd or particular in terms of its physical presence in the city?  Does the site have a hidden history that you are interested in exposing? Example: a single house on a block with all businesses, a small sliver between 2 buildings.  Sites might be in multiples, scattered about the city, but relational in some way.  {to locate a site, you may have to traverse the city very slowly, pay very close attention, and question every site, every space}

MANIFESTATION – ways In which your project might manifest itself:
Distribution / multiples
Installation / Deposit
Action / Event / Happening / Performance

PRESENTATION – ways in which we will view your project
I will work with you on an individual basis to decide how to present your project.  Ideally, you will take us to the site(s) for critique, or you may provide documentation in the form of photographs, website, video or audio.

What is DOCUMENTATION?
Documentation comes in many forms.  If we can not go to the site for critique, you will have to find a way to document the work to share it with the class.  Here are some basic guidelines  for photos, video or audio:

1. Document heavily – do more than you think you will need so you have a choice when putting together a presentation.
2. Show the site before you do the project, during the project (perhaps with viewer reactions), and after the project.
3. Be thorough and professional with your presentation – you may do a slide show, a Powerpoint Presentation, website,  video or audio.  Either way—documentation is inherently never as good as the actual experience of the work in real life – so give us as much as you can.
4. Stay ahead of yourself – don’t wait till the last minute.  If the project fails in some way, I expect you to try it again till you get it where you are happy with it.

RULES:

• Your project must be sited in Philadelphia
• It must be temporary, minimally invasive and it can not, in any way, be destructive to public or private property.
• If you are engaging with your audience by conversation, photographs , video or audio–  ask permission!  Example:  “Hi, my name is Meredith Warner.  I am a student and Moore College of art and I am doing a project.  Can I ask you a few questions?  Can I record you?  Can I take your picture?”
• If you are attaching something to any part of the environment – try to get permission to do so.
• No Littering, No graffiti, No stickering allowed!
• Materials are TOTALLY OPEN!

Examples

Issue – Installation
http://www.julianneswartz.com/link_line.html – Harrisburg installation – Line/Link
http://www.michaelrakowitz.com/ – paraSITE – Michael Rakowitz – Inflatable homeless shelters
http://www.woostercollective.com/2006/12/detroits_object_orange.html – Detroit’s Object Orange
http://www.rebargroup.org/projects/parking/# – PARK(ing) VIDEO

Issue – Action / Event / Happening / Performance
http://www.kqed.org/arts/people/spark/profile.jsp?id=5030 – Michael Swaine’s sewing project – VIDEO
http://www.futurefarmers.com/survey/knot.php – Human Knot
http://www.temporaryservices.org/psop3.html – Public Opinion Poll by Temporary Services

Issue – Distribution
http://www.candychang.com/artdesign/pages/womensguide.htm – Vancover Women’s Guide
http://fallenfruit.org/maps.html – Fallen Fruit – Urban Fruit maps
http://www.zoesheehan.com/art_work/index.html – Zoe Sheehan Saldana – shop-dropping
http://www.josh-greene.com/archives/2001/01/200_give_away.html – $220 Give Away
http://www.josh-greene.com/archives/2000/01/will_work_for_f.html – Will Work for food

Site – Action / Event / Happening / Performance
http://www.ikatun.com/57/ – Institute for Infinitely Small Things – 57 things to do in Harvard Square
http://www.de-tour.org/projects/index.html – Alex Villar
http://tochka.jp/pikapika/2006/07/report_pikapika_in_los_angeles.html – PIKAPIKA – using light

Site – Installation
http://www-und.ida.liu.se/~patwi614/ulrika/public_embroidery.html – Public Embroidery
http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/horizontal_1.htm – Banksy – using marks that are already there
http://www.little-people.blogspot.com/ – Little People
http://www.mckendreekey.com/Projects/ProjectMenu/ProjectMenu.html – McKendee Key
http://www.truthtag.com/gallery.php?id=1 – TruthTag
http://www.sculpture.org.uk/image/504816331403 – Andy Goldsworthy

Student Examples

Portrait of a Passenger 

Public Art Alteration

This will be a quick, two week project, in which you will select a single piece of public art in Philadelphia to which you will recommend be changed, altered, moved or amended in some way. You will suggest a change to that piece of art that may alter is context, history, form, meaning, site – or all of those. This change may ultimately change its meaning.

1. Select an artwork that interests you.
2. Create a miniature of that work.
3. Use the miniature as a model to alter the work in some way – then photographing it in its new form, context etc.
4. Turn in a physical or digital image (or set of images).

READING: For Hamburg:  Public Art and Urban Identities by Miwon Kwon

Getting (re)Started

We will have 2 presentations to crit at the start of class, then we will head out to look at some public artworks. Were your walking shoes!!!

Each of you must come to class with a public artwork that you want to go visit. If there is another piece you like, please take note of that too, so we have options. Please do not choose a Mural. Since we already looked specifically as the Women’s Way Mural, I want to look at other kinds of public artworks.

Keep in mind that we will be on foot – so travel time is an issue. I would say we can go as far west as the PMA, as far east as 5th street, as far south as Lombard and as far north as Spring Garden.

What to bring to class and to share with the class- assuming you can find it:
The artists name, title, material and date the piece was create.
Any other additional information about the piece – historical or otherwise.
If it has ever existed in another location, if so, where.

Please use the links below to start searching for a public artwork to visit. You may also choose an artwork that does not exist in these databases. Please try to do similar research of it. There are also a few books in the library pertaining specifically to Philadelphia Public works.

DATABASES OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC ART:
http://www.philart.net/
http://www.publicartphiladelphia.org/

Final Presentation – Women’s Way

Your presentation should be a combination of both text and images.  Think about it as a narration. Show us the current site, tell us how it is used, organized, experienced. Explain to us your perception of the Women’s Way murals in their current condition and how this reflects on Women’s Way as an organization. You may follow that with an explanation of Women’s Way as an organization and how this piece of public art is a tribute. Finally, move us into your project.  Explain your choices on how to shift the site or the work so that it reveals or changes the issue with the current project.  Describe the experience you hope your viewers will have as they walk through it.

You will narrate the presentation, but it is also important that your presentation can stand on its own– so if someone read through it, they would have a clear understanding of your goals.

REMEMBER THE REQUIREMENTS!!

• 4-6 Drawings using both analog and digital processes. You should include images that provide site context and at least one image that addresses a design detail.
• 1 map or arial view
• Text that describes the project, images and concept.

After the Break

FINAL PRESENTATIONS DUE MARCH 21

For next week (after break, Mar 14) you should have completed writing about your project proposal. Think of the text as a narrative: taking us from the site as it is now, to the site as you envision it. This text will be incorporated into your final project.

Some topics to address:

• Write a descriptive paragraph about each of the images. Include in your description the specific location and its context. Assume that your audience knows NOTHING about the project.
• Write a description of Women’s Way and how you envision a tribute to that organization.
• Write about the current site and the issues you want to address in your project proposal.
• Write a description of the physical changes you propose to make and how they will improve the current conditions.

The class following break (Mar 14) will be your final in class “work day” for the project.  You will be in good shape at this moment if you have 2-3 completed drawings and your text written. Come prepared to work in class.  That can be to work on physical drawings, digital drawings, or beginning to compile your final presentation.  Remember, you may choose the final form that the presentation will take: digital (keynote/powerpont), analog (presentation board, bound booklet, etc).  So you may want to come prepared to work on that.

Presentation requirements:

• 4-6 Drawings using both analog and digital processes. You should include images that provide site context and at least one image that addresses a design detail.
• 1 map or arial view
• Text that describes the project, images and concept.

Due Next Week (Feb 20) + Make-up work

IF YOU MISSED CLASS Feb. 22:
Take a look at the slide show of preparatory drawings in the PDF I have posted here: Preparatory Slideshow. These drawings are from a range of artists. Notice different elements applied to each sketch – different views, textual explanations, maps. You will see drawings that act as an autonomous sketches, others incorporate and rework photographic images, maps and otherwise. These act as an example of how I hope you will begin to work through your concept.

Above is an example of how you might work into a photographic image with paint, pencil, pen or other traditional materials. You should work DIRECTLY onto the photos. (This is what we worked on in class today.) You may also use tracing paper to capture the space, transfer it to a sheet of drawing paper, and then insert your additions. In class, we utilized the projector to google images and then trace them onto the drawings.

If you missed class you should email me a written description of your ideas for the project by the close of the weekend (Sunday). I will respond to your thoughts and make some recommendations as to how you might start the drawing process. I can also be available next week to meet with you in person if necessary (Tuesday afternoon).

EVERYONE FOR NEXT WEEK:
After you have gone through the analog process, creating a series of sketches by hand, you should scan those sketches and make some additions in photoshop. Feel free to browse the web for usable images that will help to transform your sketch (trees, people, cars, lights, etc). If you are gathering images from the internet you MUST manipulate them in photoshop to make them your own! Keep scale and perspective in mind. Remember, as an element recedes into the distance it should be smaller and with less detail. In the end, you will have a single sketch that was manipulated in both an analog and digital process (by your physical hand and by the stroke of the mouse).

The digital skills you need to accomplish this are: using google images search, downloading images, opening images in photoshop, creating a simple selection with the polygonal lasso, cutting and pasting your selection and transforming the selections scale if needed. If need help with these skills, please be in touch as soon as possible so we can arrange for a tutorial

Due Next Class (on thumbdrive or online):
Two drawings that employ a combination of analog and digital processes to envision your concept.
One arial or map view with notations and/or drawings to indicate how and where you are changing the site.
Be prepared to present your ideas to the group for feedback.

Below is an example of the analog drawing (top) and the analog plus digital drawing (bottom).

Another Way for Women – Public Art Proposal

This assignment asks you to consider Solnit’s theories about how women move in public space and create a proposal for a work of public art.

SITE:
Using the location of the current “Women’s Way” murals, you must reconsider the mural, site and surrounding context. How does a women use this space? How does a woman feel in this space? How does the location of this public artwork currently inform its tribute to a women’s organization? How can you transform this space to either uncover or diminish some of the things that Solnit discusses in “Walkscapes?”

PROPOSAL:
Your proposal should be for the creation of something physical. Performance can be part of it, but not its sum total. You may also transform the space, from a design perspective, in any way you see fit to meet your needs. (Light, sound, space are all malleable). THINK BIG! BUDGET IS NOT AN ISSUE.

PRESENTATION:
Your presentation can be a set of physical drawings or in the form of a book or presentation board. You may also use digital media to create your presentation (Powerpoint, keynote, PDF). Contained within, but not limited to, you must provide the following documentation: drawings, photographs, writing and maps. Each of you must create a physical mock-up (not to scale). That mock-up may only appear in the final proposal as an image. You may also include video and audio, though it is not required.

WHERE TO BEGIN:
You will begin the process by researching. What is Women’s Way? How and when did the current work of art arrive there? What do people think about it? How does it function at day, at night? What are some other local or non-local public artworks that are mean to be a tribute to the work of women?

DUE NEXT WEEK (FEB 22)

• A series of images of the site and its context on disk or thumbdrive
• At least 5 images printed out at 8.5 x 11
• Some internet research about Women’s Way and the Mural completed
• Some initial proposal ideas established – for this you may want to print images, do sketches or write
• Come prepared to class with your drawing toolbox and drawing paper

Assignment 1: Public Log

Choose a single public space. Observe and document this space at least twice over the next week. Spend at least 30 minutes at the site collecting data. How is the space being used, who is using it, how public is it? Enter the data into your public log. Take detailed pictures of the site. Present your findings to the class.

Who is using the site? How are they using it? Is it really public? Who owns it? Who maintains it?