Here’s a mini shout out to journalis John Lorinc, whose new book looks rather interesting, and who will be giving a talk at the UofT on Urban Poverty in Canada tomorrow.
wait – there are poor people? oh. I thought it was performance art.
January 16, 2007
January 17, 2007 at 12:11 am
It is performance ART! Now the challenge is to increase the standards in the public realm… that means all kinds of things… the architecture/ design, the environmental effects of our built form and NATURALLY the quality of “public art”….
January 17, 2007 at 1:50 am
Apparently written sarcasm is not my forte.
On one hand I agree with you – the way we live in our environment, and use spaces and places, is an implicit display and critique of our society. It can be playful, it can be harsh – it can project prosperity, it can feature inequality.
As for public realm, I am a little weary of efforts which displace the public – however unseemly poverty or homelessness may be – from urban spaces, and in their place display public art.
I dislike ‘art’ as something shiny for the real people to look at. (in more ways that one) As for poverty, I think it is an important and human concern which deserves attention.
January 17, 2007 at 1:50 am
P.S. my momma loves me
January 17, 2007 at 4:04 am
no it is I that can not get the irony in print… I think that the poor are “public art” = preformance art; and the quality of the preformance art is a measure of how we treat our poor…they are an important part of the public realm. .)