Below is the description of a project that Beth and I worked on with the invaluable assistance of my sister, Sarah. We had proposed the installation for the Northside Charm Bracelet grant and the text is taken from the grant application. Unfortunately, the grant was not received and the idea remains unfunded. We have had a few leads lately, but since we are on our way out of the country and things are a little hectic, we are sort of letting it drop for now. Perhaps we will find a similar space in which to install it in Dubai and there will be people there who think that it is worth funding such a cutting-edge new media installation. Sorry Pittsburgh…keep painting your murals. We’ll just have to wait for you to catch up to the rest of the public art world. Meanwhile, we are off to a place that is receptive of new ideas.
Visual History of the Site (pdf)
Located adjacent to the parking lot at the corner of Sandusky and Lacock Streets (near a street once named Plush Alley) it will display two projections of video art projects that pay homage to the history of the Northside. The projectors will be powered by solar panels mounted above the projection boxes.
The videos will be programmed and controlled remotely through a wireless broadband server. There will be no need to access the on site equipment except for the occasional replacement of projector bulbs (4000 hour life), which will be done easily about twice a year with a ladder to a locked projection box access panel. In fact, the mounting height of nearly 20 feet will discourage any would be vandals from tampering with the equipment. This use of technology plus environmentally conscious design will innovatively assist in weaving contemporary art into the fabric of historical Pittsburgh. The binocular projections can be related or unrelated and could have the potential to be viewed stereoscopically.
The chosen location has extensive foot traffic on any given day, which includes pedestrians in route
to work downtown, sports fans, art lovers walking from the Warhol Museum (the projections would
be visible from the front door of the Warhol Museum) to the Mattress Factory, as well as residential
foot traffic. This diverse group of people moving through the Northside shares the common thread
of intersecting with this historical space. It is exciting to imagine the footsteps of history overlapping
with the activities of contemporary culture.
We wish to poetically illuminate a bit of this history, while at the same time standing as a model of art practice in the 21st century—a practice that understands that art, history, environment, and audience experience exist symbiotically. The location was also selected based on its southern orientation for prime solar exposure, and yet perpetual shade at the plane of the projection. These two elements existing together is quite unique and perfect for the use as video art space. It easily turns a once blighted space into a neighborhood asset that has relevance to a broad audience.
The inaugural video projection to be debuted on New Year’s Eve 2008 will be created by Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry and will be a stereoscopic design that metaphorically references Plush Alley’s history as researched at the Heinz History Center. We believe that Plush Alley meets the Charm Bracelet’s goals of innovation as well as enhancing the experience of the residents of and visitors to the Northside.
We perceive of the Plush Alley installation as Phase 1 of a larger community outreach project, eventually incorporating the Charm Bracelet’s other focus area of Educational and Youth Programming
as Phase 2.
Phase 2
Educational and Youth Programming (beginning June 20, 2009):
Merging the history of the Northside into educational programming with the children of the neighborhood. We will organize 2-day art day camps every other weekend in June and July pending availability of space. Potential spaces that we will approach include Northside churches, the Children’s Museum, and the New Hazlett Theater. During these 2-day art camps children will be introduced to various histories of the Northside, art making techniques, and the works of artists such as Jacob Lawrence. The children will have the opportunity to express their responses to these histories through art making.
The projects that the children create will be archived into a projected video at Plush Alley, as well as
into a growing archive contained on a website designed and maintained by Elizabeth Monoian. The value for the youth participating in these day camps and the public presentations of the artworks created during them are far reaching. The end results, we believe, are of self worth, neighborhood pride, and community accountability.
The specific histories that we will research and present to the children will be as follows:
1: Underground Railroad
2: Northside Architecture
3: Personal Histories
Phase 3
Curated New Media Space with Online Posted Weekly Programming Schedule
(beginning December 2009):
Taking Plush Alley to the next level, the videos projected during each day would be scheduled for
smaller periods of programming time. The schedule would be posted online and would be programmed
and updated weekly. An example of a typical day would be as follows:
6am-9am
Video Blog: Scrolling Text of Stories Told by Neighborhood Children
9am-12pm
Local Art Day Camp Production, Ages 6-8: A History of Charles Avery
12pm-3pm
Local Art Day Camp Production, Ages 9-12: The Underground Railroad in
Pittsburgh’s Northside
3pm-6pm
Video Artwork by Local Artists – Documentary
6pm-9pm
Video Art by Pittsburgh Students Age 13-18
9pm-12pm
Video Artwork by Local Artists – Avant Garde
12am-3am
Concept Pieces of Independent Artists: International Forum
3am-6am
Video Blog: Scrolling Text of Stories Told by Neighborhood Adults