An Urban Experiment
The public works of Phoenix Arizona are required to have an art element that goes along with it. It is written into law. These have been controversial in the past, since some the art that the tax payers have paid for has been less than 'artistic'.
This art is supposed to be interactive and representative of the community. Since the public works have changed the landscape of the city or the neighborhood, the art is supposed to soften the blow.
Everywhere we go we effect the things around us. We leave traces of where we have been and test any environment we find ourselves in.
Animals in the wild purposefully leave no trace that is discernibly to most humans. They don't carve their initials on trees or leave sign posts to find the way back. They are for the most part, stealthy in their environment.
Humans on the other hand tend to want to make their presence known. They build things, they leave behind all manner of refuge and garbage. They often times leave their mark for no discernible reason.
At the Metro platform at Encanto and Central near downtown Phoenix, where I catch the light-rail every morning, there is a public art installation. It is somewhat odd and without an obvious theme, unless you look closely at it.
Unless it is 'tested', that is to say touched, it does not appear movable. But indeed, the unique blocks mounted on the horizontal bars can be turned, and in fact are meant to be turned to expose each side.
This got me wondering one cold, dark morning about whether this sort of interactive art was ever really noticed by anyone, so I decided to perform a little social experiment. I went down the platform and arranged all the rotating blocks in order so that they all formed a straight line. The next morning I would return and see if anyone had rotated the blocks.
The next day I was surprised to find that most of the blocks had been moved. People waiting for the trains had laid hands on them, either out of curiosity, boredom or accident and moved almost all of them.
Which got me thinking. We are a touchie-feelie sort of society. Everywhere we go, we have to touch, to move, to re-arrange. We can never seem to leave well enough alone. Sometimes I wonder if we aren't all cursed with the mindset that the world is one big "Pandora's Box".
Great post. While I duly appreciate concerns about the human need to defile the landscape, I am a lover of public art and especially something that gets people to pay attention and participate.
ReplyDeleteImagine all the unique molecules of individual energy that are clustering around this installation. Good or bad?
It makes me think of the big statue of Lincoln at his Memorial in Springfield. You can see a glossy patina in certain spots where over the years people have rubbed their hands. Call me weird, but it's like a visible imprint on history.
I think society especially children need the arts in their lives. It's a shame when funding for the arts in schools are cut.
ReplyDeleteI'm a history nut. I'm glad some people have made an effort to leave their mark- but irritated at others for the same thing. It's great to find an artifact that gives you information about ancient peoples- but i really wish modern (idiots) people would quit with the graffiti! It's so irritating to have to try to examine ancient petroglyphs through bullet holes and spray paint!
ReplyDeleteYeah, um, you have dogs right, have you not seen the incessant marking of their environment?
ReplyDeletebut, I really think it's impossible to NOT leave marks, or change our environment.
Or perhaps we are not really leaving or changing anything. After all, isn't everything just a manifestation of matter and energy, molded and shaped into different forms?
Mess around with those blocks some more, see if you can get a call and response thing going with your fellow passengers.
Like, place four blocks one way every day for a week and mark the responses you get. See if you notice a pattern.
I dare ya.
:)
Mrs. Hall
I guess I would have been more surprised to find the blocks untouched. Neat law! And I don't say that about too very many laws...wait, I've never said that about a law...
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I have two of the touchy-feeliest boys in creation and constantly have to remind them to put their hands in their pockets to AVOID touching things. How very anti-"look but don't touch" of the artist.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are right...how many other things in life ARE we supposed to explore?
great post... i agree we are very touchy-feely by nature. from children, we seem to have this inherent nature of "needing" to touch something to fully experience it.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. The need to be creative and leave some sort of mark on the earth has been around since caveman days. Public art pleases me, even the ugly and controversial stuff. After a while it kind of blends in anyway.
ReplyDeleteHow funny that those blocks were fiddled with each day. I know I would just have to touch, see them move and make a private yet public statment of my own.
OK, if it's made to touch, I can handle that. I'm a tactile person. But it DRIVES ME CRAZY when people think they have the right to touch, rearrange(destroy) anything and everything in their path. I am tactile, but NOT touchy-feely. For example, why do people think they have the right to touch the abdomen of a pregnant woman? (Lucky for me, this didn't happen to me because my appearance in general says "back off.") I cannot think I am not the only person who does not like the general public-friend or not-not wanting my stomach to be a playround.
ReplyDeleteHow many things break because people think they have a right to touch anything?
The art isn't pretty in my opinion. And it makes me wonder if some of our highway art is mandated because the road it changed the scenery.