Apr

Creative Thinking Busts 5 Myths About Public Parks

by Bruce Goldstone on April 14, 2014

A park caravan, illustrating how creative thinking can redefine public parks. (Image © Kevin Van Braak)

This portable park can park almost anywhere.
© Kevin van Braak

Redefining Parks and Other Public Spaces

Sunny day in central park, illustrating a model for public parks that creative thinking is expanding. (Image © Songquan Deng/Shutterstock)

A picture perfect park,
but not all parks have to look like this
© Songquan Deng/Shutterstock

After a long winter, public parks are once again greening up. On the first nice day, they beckon city dwellers to gather, relax, and play.

The model city park offers a grassy lawn, cozy benches, ballfields, and meandering paths.

But creative thinking is redefining what city parks can and will be. And the innovative projects that result have shattered these five common myths about what makes a park a park.

Myth #1: Parks Have to Be on the Ground

For years, we all pretty much assumed that parks had to be on the ground. After all, parks need soil, and that’s where soil is found.

But then parks began to reach for higher ground.

High Line in New York City, illustrating how creative thinking has redefined public parks. (Image © pio3/Shutterstock)

Looking for the park? Look up!
© pio3/Shutterstock

The High Line in New York City has transformed about 1.5 miles of abandoned elevated freight rails into an aerial greenway.

The High Line in New York City, illustrating how creative thinking is redefining public parks. (Image © duckeesue/Shutterstock)

The High Line gardens highlight plants that self-seeded the rails
when they were abandoned.
© duckeesue/Shutterstock

Once considered an unsightly neighborhood blight, this long, narrow strip of park has changed how visitors think about parks.

The High Line is hugely popular with both locals and visitors, offering unique city views. Even the bustling traffic below looks good when viewed from above.

Similar projects have reclaimed railways and routes around the world, including the Bloomingdale Line in Chicago, the Promenade Plantée in Paris, and the Parkland Walk in London.

But up isn’t the only direction parks can go. What about down?

An abandoned trolley terminal that might become a public park, illustrating how creative thinking is redefining public parks. (Image © TheLowline)

Will this abandoned trolley terminal in Brooklyn . . .
© TheLowline

Proposed design for The Lowline, illustrating how creative thinking is redefining public parks. (Image © TheLowline)

. . . become the world’s first underground park?
© TheLowline

Supporters of the Lowline hope to use solar technology to transform an empty terminal into an underground oasis.

Myth # 2: Parks Don’t Move

Once you build a park, it generally stays put. But some clever artists have developed mobile parks.

Designs like Kevin van Braak’s caravans put parks on the go. He thought outside the box by putting a park inside a box.

A mobile green caravan, illustrating how creative thinking can redefine public parks. (Image © Kevin van Braak.)

A portable park on wheels
© Kevin van Braak

Each traditional-looking camper is packed with surprises: artificial grass and flowers, trees, stuffed animals, and audio of bird sounds (see top picture). A barbecue makes this pocket park perfect for impromptu social gatherings wherever it stops.

Moving parks come in many sizes, too. This green-cycle, spotted on the streets of Chicago and photographed by artist Noah Scalin, brings a little bit of park with it wherever it goes.

A combination bike and lawn, illustrating how creative thinking can redefine public parks.

A pedal-powered park
© Noah Scalin

Myth #3: Parks Are Permanent

A park should be a forever thing, right? Not necessarily.

On Park(ing) Day each year, creative thinkers transform mundane parking spaces into temporary public parks. These mini-parks are designed to last for just a single day.

Park(ing) Day gardens, illustrating how creative thinking can redefine public parks. (Image © Rebar)

These parking spaces are for people, not cars.
© Rebar

Make your own plans now for this year’s event, which will take place on Friday, September 19th, 2014.

Myth #4: Green Spaces Have to Be Green

The grassy lawns and leafy trees of our mind’s-eye park may not make sense in every climate or situation.

Last fall, Container Park opened in downtown Las Vegas. Inspired by industrial shipping containers, the multi-purpose environment offers a combination of commerce and relaxation, including a huge 33-foot spiral slide for kids and their adults.

Container Park in downtown Las Vegas, illustrating how creative thinking can redefine public parks. (Image © Bruce Goldstone)

Extravagantly playful, Las Vegas’s newest park captures the city’s spirit.
© Bruce Goldstone

The park may lack greenery, but it does have green, in the form of a 55-foot metal praying mantis that shoots flames. Designed by Kirk Jellum and Kristen Ulmer, this impressive insect first appeared at Burning Man, before it found a permanent home here.

Watch enthusiastic drummers bring the mantis to life at dusk.

If the video doesn’t display, watch it here.

Myth #5: Parks Are for Daytime

Speaking of parks and bugs, check out the giant spider by Louise Bourgeois lurking in a Tokyo park.

A Louise Bourgeois spider sculpture in a Tokyo park, illustrating how creative thinking can redefine public parks. (Image © Vincent St. Thomas/Shutterstock)

Curious beasts may seem to come alive in this Tokyo park at night.
© Vincent St. Thomas/Shutterstock

The spooky spider proves that sunlight isn’t an essential part of enjoying parks. In fact, many parks, like the Reserva Ecológica in Buenos Aires, host nighttime tours when the moon is full.

Nocturnal visits offer plenty of “Oh, I see” moments, though a lot of them don’t involve your eyes. As darkness takes away your vistas, it can also sharpen your attention to an astonishing variety of smells, sounds, and textures.

Putting Park Myths Out to Pasture

Nifty new notions have challenged stick-in-the-mud views of parks. If you Google “what is a park?” you’ll find this definition: “a large green area in town, used for recreation.”

Sounds great, Google, but kind of restrictive, isn’t it?

Because creative thinking has shown us that public parks don’t have to be large, or green, or stuck in the same spot of town all the time. Parks are really only limited by the vision and imagination of the people who think them up.

You can get involved, too! The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, dedicated to transforming former rail lines into trailways for people, is one example of a group putting these innovative ideas into action. Sustainable Cities Collective is a great resource for news and information on green building and improving urban environments.

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Bruce Goldstone 1 Comment

Clever Ideas/Innovations

Apr

Tour 13 Paris: The Ephemeral Nature of Street Art

by Meredith Mullins on April 9, 2014

Colorful portrait by B Toy and rubble after the first phase of demolition of the Tour 13 in Paris, proving the fleeting nature of street art. (Photo © Galerie Itinerrance)

The beginning of the demolition of B Toy’s work at the Tour 13
© Galerie Itinerrance

The Long-Awaited Demolition: The Walls Come Tumbling Down

Art is fleeting. It lives for the moment.

Sometimes the artist, like Claude Monet in his later years, punctures holes in his paintings because he doubts himself. The work is destroyed before it’s ever seen.

Sometimes the life cycle of artistic expression is determined by the whim of contemporary tastes.

Sometimes an artist, like sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, creates the work to purposefully evolve over time, with nature as a collaborator. Stones are smoothed by water. Ice melts. Wood rots. Leaves wither. Life. Decay. Death. A natural cycle.

Sometimes the act of destruction is part of the work itself.

Street art, by its very nature, is ephemeral. Graffiti artists make transience their creed. They work quickly, often stealthily.

Their art and tags get painted over in days (or even hours!) They don’t get attached. They speak to the moment and move on.

These truths were the foundation for the Tour 13 in Paris.

Running rabbits, artistic expression of street art at the Tour 13 (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

The wild stampeding rabbits by Pantonio from Portugal.
Photo © Meredith Mullins

The Birth and Death of the Tour 13

Last year, more than 100 graffiti artists from around the world were gathered together by Mehdi Ben Cheikh of the Galerie Itinerrance in Paris and were given freedom of expression in a building targeted for demolition. OIC covered the event in its October story.

Faces inside the Tour 13 in Paris, a haven for street art and graffiti artist Jimmy C (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

The original artwork on the 8th floor of the Tour 13
© Meredith Mullins

As the artists took over the 36 multi-room apartments and a labyrinth of basements—and painted everything from closets to kitchens to toilets to radiators, to say whatever they wanted however they wanted—the last act of the story was already written. The art would not last.

A portrait by street artist Jimmy C in the Tour 13 in Paris, showing the fleeting nature of street art (Photo © Galerie Itinerrance)

What’s left after the first phase of demolition
© Galerie Itinerrance

Everyone knew the dilapidated building would be destroyed. The community of artists, who worked for free, knew it. The 25,000 visitors, who waited in line for up to 13 hours to see the amazing installation, knew it. The nearly half a million visitors to the social media sites knew it.

So, it is no surprise this week that the walls will come tumbling down, the final part of the demolition.

Side of the Tour 13 in Paris after the first phase of demolition, proving the fleeting nature of street art (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

The destruction of the building (and the art) was part of the plan.
© Meredith Mullins

The Demolition

It is not so much a “tumbling” as it is a “nibbling.” To create an experience unlike any other, a crane will snack on the remaining exterior walls little by little, revealing the interior walls, floors, and ceilings for one final look. A retrospective of the most unusual kind.

A crane destroys the Tour 13 in Paris, revealing 8 stories of street art. (Photo © Pamela Fickes-Miller)

The “nibbler”
© Pamela Fickes-Miller

The art that was once on the closets, bathtubs, radiators, sinks, and windows has already been destroyed. The windows have been knocked out. Piles of rubble inside and outside the building, with chunks of bright color, reveal hints of that progress.

An exterior wall of the Tour 13 in Paris with a pile of rubble, proving that artistic expression is fleeting in the world of street art. (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Remnants of artistic expression in the rubble
© Meredith Mullins

No Regrets

Oh I see. There is no sadness in saying goodbye. This is life, as street art.

A1one art at the Tour 13 in Paris, a street art project (Photo © Galerie Itinerrance)

The work of Iranian street artist A1one after the first phase of demolition.
© Galerie Itinerrance

For the Iranian artist A1one, the art was so fleeting, he didn’t even have time to finish his room last year when he was in Paris. Then, he lost touch with the tower’s unfolding story. Now that he has heard about the destruction, he speaks with the heart of a true street artist:

“Cool. I didn’t know it was being destroyed. I like it when my works fall down. I hope we learn from it. Huge things can easily fall down in a glance.”

Mehdi Ben Cheikh feels the same about this final stage. “I’m glad of it,” he says with no nostalgia. “It’s part of the project—the ephemeral nature of street art.”

Mehdi Ben Cheikh, founder of the Tour 13 in Paris, a project that gave voice to street art and street artists around the world. (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Mehdi Ben Cheikh—Street Art Crusader
© Meredith Mullins

However, Mehdi—always a street-art crusader—has an eye toward the future of this kind of artistic expression.

“As with any great art movement, institutions are always one step behind,” Mehdi says. “They offer so little exposure to street art, even though it surrounds us in urban life. Although this project is at an end, it opens the door to new projects about to happen.”

Out of the rubble . . . who knows what will emerge.

What we do know, however, is that long after the Tour 13 is gone, it will be remembered.

Street art near the Tour 13 in Paris, showing Pantonio's artistic expression (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

A hint of Pantonio’s rabbits (alive and well) in the neighborhood
© Meredith Mullins

The “nibbling” is taking place this week and will be shown via live camera on the Tour 13 website, on the Tour 13 Facebook page, and on French television and on YouTube.

Thank you to Elsa Courtois and Mehdi Ben Cheikh of Galerie Itinerrance and Pamela Fickes-Miller for contributing to this story.

The Tour 13 demolition in Paris proves the fleeting nature of street art (Photo © Meredith Mullins)

Au revoir Tour 13
© Meredith Mullins

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Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

France (Paris)/The World's Art & Design

Apr

Richard Renaldi Poses Strangers . . . and Questions

by Bruce Goldstone on April 7, 2014

Portrait from Richard Renaldi's Touching Strangers, a project that creates and captures fleeting relationships. (Image © Richard Renaldi).

Touching Strangers Creates and Captures Fleeting Relationships

Two kids and two adults perch on a bed in an anonymous Florida hotel in Richard Renaldi’s striking photographic portrait.

Their body language shifts every time you look back. Are they relaxed or tense? Friendly or feuding? A hidden piece of information explains why the subtext is so hard to read: these people aren’t an actual family. In fact, they just met moments ago.

Renaldi’s project Touching Strangers investigates the complex chemistry of fleeting relationships. What happens when people who don’t know each other pose as friends, lovers, or family members?

Do appearances reflect reality? Or maybe they create it?

Sometimes When We Touch

The basics of the project are simple: Renaldi finds two or more strangers and asks them to pose together. The eloquent, complex results are on display at Aperture Gallery in New York City through May 15, 2014.

Asking strangers to assume intimate poses creates an obviously unnatural situation. Nerves and awkwardness are a common first response, and are frequently reflected in subtle body language in the final portrait.

Yet many of the portraits create an uncanny sense of reality. How can this relationship be a put-on?

Even though the relationship is artificially constructed, by the time Renaldi snaps the photo, the relationship may not be fake after all. This insight became an “Oh, I see” moment for both Renaldi and the participants.

Getting to Know You

Renaldi uses a large format 8-by-10-inch-view camera for his portraits, in part because he prefers the quality of the resulting images, and in part because the process itself takes time, and time creates comfort.

Unlike a quick digital snapshot, the large format camera requires a slower pace. While Renaldi is setting up, the subjects have time to talk and relax. By the time he begins taking pictures, some of the strangeness of the situation is already worn off.

In May, Aperture Foundation will publish Touching Strangers, a large-format book documenting the project.

In the Afterword, Renaldi shares how he began to understand the value of the slowed-down photographic process in creating space for a personal connection to take place:

“On completing one of these photographs, there was often the feeling that something rare and unrepeatable had just occurred.”

Stranger Things Have Happened

This video of Renaldi at work shows how his constructed poses swiftly segue from distance and discomfort into real, if temporary, relationships.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

Come Together

Renaldi delights in combining subjects from different backgrounds to create his instant families.

The juxtapositions arouse human, and humane, questions. What’s a family, anyway?

Which pairs are lovers? Which pairs are friends? Can you always tell the difference?

I’m a Stranger Here Myself

The Touching Strangers project has been enthusiastically received as word of mouth has spread, and, not surprisingly, a lot of people want to get involved.

Richard Renaldi, author of Touching Strangers, a project that creates and captures fleeting relationships.

Renaldi has received many requests from people who want to recreate his process and find their own “Oh, I see” moments.

Now, he’s found a way to include his fans contributions. All you need is a camera and the courage to say “Hello” to some complete strangers.

Using Twitter, people who’d like to join the project can send their own pictures of strangers to hashtag #TouchingStrangers.

Richard will check the feed regularly and select favorite photos to be displayed alongside his own at the Aperture exhibit.

As the Touching Strangers project evolves, Richard Renaldi has found surprisingly rich ways to preserve the flash and spark in fleeting relationships.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Bruce Goldstone Comments

Clever Ideas/The World's Photography

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Monthly Archives: April 2014

Creative Thinking Busts 5 Myths About Public Parks

Redefining Parks and Other Public Spaces

Myth #1: Parks Have to Be on the Ground

Myth # 2: Parks Don’t Move

Myth #3: Parks Are Permanent

Myth #4: Green Spaces Have to Be Green

Myth #5: Parks Are for Daytime

Putting Park Myths Out to Pasture

Tour 13 Paris: The Ephemeral Nature of Street Art

The Long-Awaited Demolition: The Walls Come Tumbling Down

The Birth and Death of the Tour 13

The Demolition

No Regrets

Richard Renaldi Poses Strangers . . . and Questions

Touching Strangers Creates and Captures Fleeting Relationships

Sometimes When We Touch

Getting to Know You

Stranger Things Have Happened

Come Together

I’m a Stranger Here Myself