A good week for public art
Posted April 29th, 2005 by eliot
Last weekend, Los Angeles art collective Heavy Trash installed giant orange “viewing platforms” near the entrances to gated communities:
On April 24, 2005, Heavy Trash volunteers deposited bright orange viewing platforms in front of three Los Angeles gated communities; Brentwood Circle, Park La Brea and Laughlin Park. The purpose of these viewing platforms is to draw attention to the phenomenon of gated communities — the fastest growing form of housing in the United States. “There are now more than 1 million homes behind such walls in the greater Los Angeles area alone,” according to Setha Low, a professor at the City University of New York….
WHY VIEWING PLATFORMS?
Like the historic viewing platforms at the Berlin Wall that allowed Westerners to see into East Berlin, the Heavy Trash viewing platforms call attention to the walls of gated communities and provide visual access to parts of the city that have been cut off from the public domain.
Check out their site here. Their past projects are equally smart and impressive, and the bibliography they’ve compiled on gated communities is super useful for people nervous about the mall-ing of Brooklyn (and beyond). (Thanks to Zack for the tip).
Speaking of public art and gated communities, VR members rancor & gravel wrote a wonderful short essay on The Gates that touched on similar themes a while back, tying these threads together better than I could do justice to in a short summary. Check it out here.
Meanwhile, 3,000 miles closer to home, photographer Fred Askew brings us the story of one person who put his body on the line to protest the war. From NYC Indymedia:
On Tuesday I came across an anti-war activist standing on traffic signal pole in Astor Place. A sign attached to the pole read, “WAR?” and on his chest was written “All American.” The “ONE WAY” signs were changed to read, “NO WAR.”
I haven’t been able to find any more information on the action or the artist. Anyone with info — especially regarding charges and legal support — drop a line in the comments below. UPDATE: Emilio has more pictures on Flickr. Thanks!
