I love art and I think it is important in placemaking and planning efforts. I think it’s great that neighborhoods are using art to distinguish themselves, and many places are using temporary art to do this. In the next paragraphs, I want to discuss the difference between implementing temporary art (which is a good thing) and bolstering art and locally-inspired design into the more permanent aspects of a community – such as buildings and infrastructure – to help a place set itself apart from the rest.
Pop-Up Art
I recognize that temporary art has a place in a community’s evolving image and design. Take this yarned-over tree, for instance…
In many communities that haven’t yet been bombarded with this idea, a tree like this can bring a smile or a remark. But once stitched and stretched, this tree in Louisville joins other similar trees in Lexington, Lisbon, and London because lots of people in many places are doing this. Torn and discarded, the fragile yarn represents the end of the exhibition. While pop up art is appreciated, what I’m proposing in Designing Local is a 100% original, sustainable uniqueness in the local built environment.
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I consider Louisville, Kentucky to be an above-average public art city and a great example for interesting uses for temporary art. For instance, this (temporary) replica of Michel Angelo’s Statue of David in Downtown Louisville has become a favorite downtown photo-opp…
I loved David. He made me and others smile.
Just down the street there is an amazing neighborhood called NuLu (East Market District). This ‘hood features a huge interactive chalkboard along the facade of what I’d consider to be a not especially attractive, non-architecturally contributing building. I appreciated the opportunity to let Louisvillians know what I wanted to do before I died, and I liked doing this much more than looking at a forgettable blank wall. It made me smile.
Many professionals consider pop-up art to be an evolutionary way to treat communities as art museums that feature different artists’ work over time. It keeps people coming back to see more. For instance, with pop-up art, it doesn’t really matter if the enormous replica of a long-deceased Italian sculptor’s masterpiece doesn’t speak to the essence of Louisville or Kentucky because it’s interesting and Instagram-worthy. Neither does it matter if a chalkboard is geographically generic because I was able to express myself there. These things are thought-provoking, and anything that is thought-provoking in the public realm is desirable. And since they’re temporary installations, a wider variety of topics and experiments can take place.
Temporary art is a good thing and has its place in helping neighborhoods revitalize. It’s fun and it makes people happy. But temporary art is dependent on continued programs, continued funding, and the commitment by one or more curators or active organizations to maintain momentum. In other words, temporary art can abruptly end.
What I’m Proposing
By contrast, the Designing Local process helps places establish longer-lasting design features such as buildings, streets, and public infrastructure. For instance, bike paths should be considered one-of-a-kind, linear art exhibitions – a celebration of a homegrown environment that can’t exist anywhere else. (Why should bikepaths only be designed as long stretches of generic black-top pavement with a slapped-on painted stripe?) Each street light pole in your community, something that is usually bought in bulk from the same ‘store’ where every other community shops, could provoke a similar response as David and put a smile on faces like the temporary chalkboard does. And your sidewalks, storefronts, and parks could be powerful masterpieces in their own right that enhance and encourage even more temporary art than everyday versions ever could.
Here’s a Louisville example of a more permanent, 100% original bike rack by a local Louisville artist:
Imagine if every bike rack was as special as this one! Now imagine if every sign, man hole, garbage can, street – everything built or permanently placed on the ground – had a local inspiration behind its design. Communities have long embraced temporary art. With Designing Local, I want to show – shift – the way we plan and design toward viewing the entire community as art. I believe that places should be more substantially (and not superficially) expressive. This shift is needed for a comprehensive outlook on more permanent ways to celebrate the local story in every place.
I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t stop celebrating the ephemeral nature of yarn and chalk. But the implementation of locally-relevant and locally-inspired art created by homegrown artists into land development projects and civil infrastructure can provide a sustainable kind of fun and happiness because they’re designed and cherished by locals. What most places have now are generic things that must rely on yarn and other temporary tactics to make them special.
Development projects and infrastructure don’t easily go away. Designed locally and with inspiration and care, they can become powerful roots that can take hold in each citizen’s consciousness. And a locally-inspired comprehensive art community is impossible for places to copy.