New York In The 60's & 70's.

What is space?  What is politics?  What is public?  This is the consistent theme throughout the three readings this week from Douglas Crimp, Rosalyn Deutsche, and Martha Rosler. 

In Action around the Edges, Crimp recounts his move from Greenwich Village to Tribeca in Lower Manhattan.  His move to a loft in Tribeca was primarily due to his desire to become a serious art critic.  He believed belonging to the “right” crowd would help him accomplish his goal.  Crimp goes on to detail the art scene.  Abandoned lofts became places to display art performances and an outlet for photographers who wished to escape traditional rules and critics.  Crimp writes about Gordon Matta-Clark whose art found opposites in the city.  Where many found abandoned buildings a problem, Matta-Clark found them useful.  He saw potential where others found lost.  He found beauty where others saw destruction.  Another artist Crimp writes about is Peter Hujar.  Hujar took photographs at night along the Far West Side of Manhattan.  In the photographs, the city was abandoned and deserted.  Through the photographs, Hujar wanted to convey a sense that the city is open to everyone.  It belongs to the dwellers.  It was theirs for the taking.  Projects: Pier 18 was a series of photographs taken by the photographic team, Shunk-Kender.  It included photographs of 27 artists as they performed on the abandoned pier as the city loomed in the background.  The piers continued to be inspiration for many artists including Alvin Baltrop and Vito Acconci.  The piers were eventually torn down for Battery Park City.  In this case, politics won out for what would be viewed as public space. 

Martha Rosler’s, Culture Class: Art, Creativity, Urbanism, continues the theme by stating space has displaced time as the main advancement resource for urbanism.  I believe by this statement she means that in our history, time played an important role in urbanism.  There wasn’t enough time to do everything that needed to be done.  Now, however, we are running out of space.  We have built our cities to their capacity.  More people have moved into the cities.  We have expanded to make up for this movement of people.  The downside to this is that the solution was to move the original homeowners out of their homes and neighborhoods to make room for the new middle and upper class moving in.  The upper and middle class starting purchases older homes to tear them down and built multi-million dollar homes.  As Rosler states “Cities were being remade for the benefit of the middle and upper class.”  City services were concentrated on the renewal of downtown areas while the poorer area suffered.  Public art was commissioned as a way to enhance this urban development.

Evictions: Art and Spatial Politics, by Rosalyn Deutsche describe the divide between art, architecture, and urban design with city social space and public space.  She states with urban development, new public space and art is commissioned.  As these are developed, she argues, they destroy the original city environment leaving the residents in jeopardy.  As Deutsche states, homelessness and urban development are linked.  As we bring in new business, new public art, and new public spaces, the people have to go somewhere else for their basic needs such as housing, food, and city services.  Her book is a collection of essays on the use of public art and how it either beneficial or not to the city as a whole.  She questions the use of public art to beautify a city.  Is commissioned public art really a useful benefit for a city where there are homeless or poor citizens without the basic needs of life? 

 

As with each week’s reading, I try to relate them to something I have experienced or felt.  I grew up in Naperville.  Our home is in the downtown area next to the train station.  In the 17 years I have lived there a lot has changed.  I thought a lot about the growth of Naperville as I read this week.  It is a city that expanded to fast.  There was not adequate city infrastructure to keep up with the growth.  Sure, Naperville has a great downtown and beautiful homes but at what costs to the residents.  Below is a video I found that shows how the downtown area went from small single family homes to be being torn down for multi-million dollar homes.  The question is, “where did the original homeowners have to go.”  They had to leave the town they grew up in for another neighborhood they could afford to live in. 

Tear Down McMansions in Naperville, IL

The downtown area grew fast.  Barnes and Noble replaced the bowling alley that once occupied the corner of Chicago Ave and Washington St.  Chicago restaurants like Sullivan’s, Catch 35 and Hugo’s moved in replacing Cee Bee Grocery Store and several smaller homes. People were displaced.  Homelessness became part of Naperville. 

Barnes & Noble - Chicago Ave / Washington St., Naperville, IL

Scott Huber - Homeless Man in Naperville, IL who protests urban development.

 

Although city planners want to only discuss the good of their developments, there are many bad things that are directly linked to their plans. 

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary - http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Space - an empty area (usually bounded in some way between things); an area reserved for some particular purpose
Politics - social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power
Public - not private; open to or concerning the people as a whole  

The Death and Life Of Great American Cities

February 18, 2011

Attrition of Automobiles

The introduction of The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs,  starts out by saying it is an attack on city planning and rebuilding.  With that statement, it sets the tone of the entire book.  We expect controversial and heavy debate.  Jane Jacobs does not fail to deliver on her promise.  However, she does not  simply attack but provides solutions.  I appreciate this.  She offers new ideas and alternatives to her rivals.  In the introduction, she targets three plans: the Garden City – Ebenezer Howard; : the Radiant City – Le Corbusier;: the City Beautiful – Daniel Burnham.  Jacobs focuses on the reality of the city not the idea of the city.  She felt the plans of city planners would destroy the city itself.  She viewed these developers as a disease causing decay in the body of the city. 

One example she refers to is in New York’s East Harlem.  There is a housing project with a rectangle lawn.  The lawn has grass and would appear to add value to the area however the residents hate it.  They feel it has no useful purpose.  The overwhelming fact is that the planners did not even ask the potential residents what they wanted, they just decided that the lawn would make them happy.

Jacobs recounts her visits to the North End in Boston considered one of the biggest slums at the time (1950s).  She revisited there in 1959 and finds it a transformed area.  Everything had been rehabilitated.  The statics confirmed what she saw.  However because it was once considered a slum, it would always been viewed as a slum by the politicians, business owners, and bankers. 

Jane Jacobs (in glasses) at a protest.

Chapter 18

The chapter starts with the statement, “Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles.”  However according to Jacobs, it is easy to blame automobiles for the problems in most cities.  She states there are two basic needs of a city, transportation and communication.  Unfortunately, both are not easily achieved.  Where would we be without automobiles?  The other day as I was stuck in traffic, I was wondering how much easier life must have been before we all had cars.  This was before I read this chapter.  I didn’t think about the things this chapter brings to life.  Travel before cars meant walking or horses.  Horses meant mud, noise, smells and crowding.  Can you imagine, a thousand horses on the Ike?  I would rather be in my car with the windows rolled up and listening to my iPod. 

One pedestrian scheme, Jacobs describes is The Gruen Plan for the downtown area of Fort Worth.  It was planned to reduce traffic in the area.  It included having expressways circling downtown Fort Worth with 6 feeder garages for thousands of cars.  The plan would free automobiles in the downtown area allowing people to walk freely.  Plans, like these, appear to enhance the city but have many issues.  One issue the lack of servicing and supplying the city itself.  Another issue is isolating the downtown area and planning for expansion. 

While Jacobs supports the use of automobiles, she explains the side effects of their use.  Congestion and parking are two issues.  Due to these issues, we are forced to build wider roads and more parking garages which erode the city.  More space is needed as we increase our dependence on automobiles.  In Los Angles, the highways are constantly jammed due to congestion which causes accidents which causes congestion.  It is an endless cycle 

According to Jane Jacobs, "Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning. But the destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building.”  If we build cities that are less dependent on automobiles, we will not rely on them as much.  One of Jacobs’ biggest opponents was Robert Moses.  Jacobs and Moses battled over the Lower Manhattan Expressway.  Moses plan was to build a 10 lane expressway through lower Manhattan.  Jacobs and her allies won the battle.  One side note, even though Robert Moses was considered a pioneer in roadway development, he did not ever possess a driver’s license. 

Map of the Lower Manhattan Expressway

Of course, Jacobs’ book was written in 1961.  A lot has happen since then in the automobile industry.  We starting to come around to Jacob’s thinking.  We are abandoning the large, fuel guzzling SUVs for more efficient, environment friendly vehicles.  We are starting to have a better understanding for how our automobile use affects the erosion of our city.  To stop the erosion of cities, we must reduce our dependency on automobiles.

In the introduction, Jane Jacob’s ask “How can you know what to try with traffic until you know how the city itself works, and what else it needs to do with its street?”  She answers – “You can’t.”  Jacobs does not believe if you solve the traffic issues of the city, you solve all the problems of the city.  I agree with her.  Traffic is a huge problem no matter where you live but it is far from the biggest issue facing a city.  Issues such as crime, poverty, hunger or homelessness are far greater problems and should demand more attention from our city planners and government. 

Robert Moses returns Jacobs’ book to Random House.  Letter refers to
Page 131 of her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

“Robert Moses, who genius at getting things done largely consists in understanding this, has made an art of using control of public money to get his way with those who the voters elect and depend
on to represent their frequently opposing interests.”

Photography in the Urban Milieu, ’30s-’50s

February 11, 2011

Photography in the Urban Milieu, ’30s-’50s

The New York School Photographs 1936-1963

The reading begins with a summary of the history of photography.  However Jane Livingston states from the start that the history of photography is constantly being rewritten.  The main focus of the reading is one part of this history, the time period of the 1930s, 1940s, ad 1950s.  During this time period, there was a group of photographers in New York City who made up the New York School.  These sixteen photographers were Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Alexey Brodovitch, Ted Croner, Bruce Davidson, Don Donaghy, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, Sid Grossman, William Klein, Saul Leiter, Leon Levinstein, Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, David Vestal, and Weegee.  My personal favorite is Diane Arbus.  They all lived in New York City in some part of their lives. 

“I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I
photographed them.” – Diane Arbus

A little preview of how Arbus works.

The New York School photographers broke the rules.  They did not care about the rules or the consequences of breaking them.  They had a passion for photography and would go beyond the bounds of its historical techniques and equipment to capture the images they wanted to record. 
They were highly influences by film noir.  This is an early cinema style of black and white crime dramas.  Another common thread among the group was they did not start out with photography as their original art form.  They moved to photography from painting, film and design.  The New York School photographers considered it an honor to be photographers. 

The three major influences of the New York School were Lewis Hine, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans.

Helen Levitt was greatly influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson who she did not personally meet until 1945.  Unlike her mentor, she never considered being a commercial photographer.   She regarded herself as an outsider.  Her street photography began in 1937.  She had an exhibit of black and white photographs of children in the Museum of Modern Art between 1941-1943.  In 1965, her book, A Way of Seeing: Photography of New York had images from all walks of life.  Through the images she was able to tell a story that written word could not.  She continued her New York City street photography long after the other original sixteen members.  While street photography became more common for the everyday photographer, Levitt was able to continue her work in creative and new ways.  Levitt lived in New York whole life. 

my street art.

Robert Frank gained the recognition that few in the New York School ever received.   He published The Americans in 1958. Prior to his book, he had The Family of Man exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art.   He spent time in Europe before coming to New York.  In 1955 and 1956, he received two fellowships which allowed him to take the grant money to take photography road trips throughout the United States.  The result was The Americans. 

He used a 35mm and abandoned studio/flashbulb lighting in favor of natural light.  One technique that he used was to capture lighting through windows.  I have experimented with this technique many times.    He did a lot of commercial work for magazines and newspapers like the New York Times. 

My window lighting technique.

"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they
want to read a line of a poem twice." Robert Frank

Louis Faurer was longtime friend of Robert Frank.  Faurer did not receive the same recognition or success as his friend.  It wasn’t until the late 1970s, that he received the acknowledgement of his work when undiscovered work was exhibited.  He used a Leica camera along with a wide F-stop and slow shutter speed to capture his images.  He pushed the limits of photography.  He did so however effortless to the final image.  As Faurer said himself, “the most perfect technique is that which is not noticed at all.” 

William Klein worked as a fashion photographer at Vogue for 12 years but never felt like he “sold out” to commercialism.  In fact he credits his relationship with Alexander Lieberman, Vogue’s art director, as the key reason he was able to publish his book New York.  He published three other books, Rome, Moscow and Tokyo.  The images used have dark tones and shadows.  The images are often out of focus and blurred.  He originally trained to be a painter however discovered photography through his murals.  Once he began photography, he did so completely. 

The City

The City was an interesting documentary film.  The opening excerpts are not unlike the scenes we see every day in Chicago.  Yes, our clothes and cars are different but the rush, the crowds and the traffic jams are the same.  From there we move to scenes of a more rural life.  The final excerpt is about the “new city”.  The new city is portrayed as the perfect life for Americans.  You can walk to work, go home for lunch and be with your family, your children can play safely and carefree in the neighborhood.  It is the “Leave it to Beaver” lifestyle.  I suppose life was this simple once.  It has not been in my lifetime.  My generation does not experience the carefree life depicted in the film.  The ending of the film asks the questions that we are still asking today “do you want a better life – the choice is yours.”  One other note, the musical score moved well through the film and added feeling to the scenes.

Flâneur

Flâneur

According to the reading, The Flâneur, “the street becomes the dwelling of the flâneur; he is as much at home among the facades of houses as a citizen is in his four walls.”  A flâneur is a stroller.  It comes from the French word flâner meaning to stroll.  A stroller is a person who has experiences as he or she walks through their environment.  According to Walter Benjamin, the invention of the arcades, made the capability to stroll through the city possible.  An arcade is a passageway, often covered, that lines shops and attractions throughout the city.  In the arcade, the flâneur, never becomes bored.  He thrives during the stroll.  He is at home and comfortable.  It is a leisurely activity.  In the 1840s, the flâneur, would take a turtle on his walk.  The turtles set the pace of the walk. 

It is not important if there is other human interaction.  The crowd becomes part of the flâneur’s experience, not the other way around.  The crowd allows the stroller to go about unobserved while he is in fact is observing. 

Similar to The Flâneur, City of Modernity: Shifting Perspectives, Urban Transitions, focuses on the industrialization and development of the city.  George Simmel refers to urban development as bringing new quality to life and therefore changing the development of humans.  Simmel discusses how the advancement of print, electricity and rapid transit affect our sensory life.  He refers to this as the “mental life of the metropolis.”  The three social characters in society react differently.  The  dandy relates in with eccentricity and sophistication.   A blasé attitude is experienced by the snob.  On the other hand, the flâneur, has a combination of the two as he reacts to the development of the city.   The flâneur perceives the changes as a positive.  He is open and eager to experience modernization of his environment.

Modernization of environment

Of the three readings, I enjoyed, The Man of the Crowd, the most.  Unlike the other two, it told a story of a flâneur.  It actually told the story of a flâneur observing a flâneur.  A man sits alone in a café observing the passing crowd.  He wonders about the people passing by and what story belongs to them.  He is, as you say, “judging a book by it cover.”  As evening approaches, he observes an elderly man passing by.  He rushes out the café to follow the man.  He continues to follow the man throughout the night.  He is convinced the man has a criminal background.  Without ever speaking to the man, the observer judges the man’s character and considers him a bad element of society.  He finally approaches the man and looks him in the eye but the man does not seem to notice him at all.  I wondered if the two were not parts of the same man.  Was he looking back at himself?

Man of the crowd

He is a man “of” the crowd.  The reason I bring out the point of the man being “of” the crowd, is because when you read the title of the story, you naturally read, the man “in” the crowd.  I believe there is a big difference between being “of” something or “in” something.   In the recent debate about Rahm Emanuel’s residence requirement to run for Mayor of the City of Chicago, it appeared to come down to wording of the law.  The law stated, to qualify to for candidacy, the person had to be a residence “of” the City of Chicago.  The law did not say, you have to reside “in” the City of Chicago.  To be considered “in” something , it means you are enclosed or a part of it.  To be “of” something means you have origins it.  In the end, Rahm Emanuel was considered to be a residence “of” the City of Chicago and therefore able to run for Mayor.  It is interesting how one preposition can change the entire meaning of a sentence.  It is similar to Poe’s story.   The man was “of” the City not “in” the City.

Today, we are not interested in being flâneurs.  We are constantly trying to figure out the fastest, shortest route to our destination.  We are convinced that there are more important things around the next corner.  Even as a photographer, I forget to view my surroundings as a moment in time.  It is in those moments that I do stop and take it all in, that I truly experience my art.  To the flâneur, the stroll is his drawing, his photograph, it becomes his art.