As I contracted the winding path to Dekalb Gallery, a squat aquarium from a building at the Pratt Institute Quad in Brooklyn, I could see that Collective mobility Would be an unusual show. A sign just like a sign that you would find on a corner, Deli stated: “We are open.” One of the doors was hurled wide open on a mild February afternoon. Inside I saw series of shoes and bags neatly arranged on tars; Clear trays of folded clothing and bags filled with hugs and underwear; towering structures in green blue, navy and okerkanues; And a figure that weaving, folding, rearing and organizing the wares in and out of all the above.
That figure is the artist, Alex Strada, who is a Pratt Fellow and the public artist in residence at the New York City Department of Homeless Services and Department of Cultural Affairs. Those above structures are Mutual Aid Mobile Sculptures, which Strada designed with architect Ekin Bilal and that Yasunari Izaki made up in Pratt’s Woodshop. During the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to donate clothing and essential items; On Saturday Strada Wielt the sculptures to nearby hiding places to distribute these resources directly. The show argues that the care of unmarried and expropriated people is not a task to be thrown away to the ‘city’, which is vague and often ineffective entity, but rather a responsibility to be shot through a collectivity of individuals.
Somewhat unusual for an art exhibition, one of the keystones of Collective mobility a series of paper cards is attached to the wall. Made with Pratt School of Information Professor John Lauermann and graduated assistants Yuanhao Wu and Nathan Smash, they tell a story about individualism that manifests colossal and cruel on a city scale. One card suddenly shelter locations with a dark blue that transfers a higher density to a certain community district and light blue indicates lower. It is immediately clear that certain districts, such as those who include the Highbridge district of the Bronx, have disproportionately more hiding places than others, such as those of the West Village district in Manhattan, who have zero. Go to the next card, which non-compliance 311 calls with regard to homelessness suddenly and the correlation between areas with fewer shelters and a high numbers of reports in sharp focus. Another graph that documents the vacancy, or the percentage of homes that are not occupied, reveals that the transfer of luxury apartments in richer parts of Manhattan closely correlates with those regions with fewer shelters and more phone calls.
A robust Version of this map project is also available online for free, including layers split per race, percentage of essential employees and poverty rate, expanding the physical and temporary parameters of Collective mobility. This kind of porosity between the show itself and the true subject – the city and people outside – can also be felt in the material of the exhibition. The forms of these cards reflect the irregular silhouette of the mobile sculptures, which in turn are based on the Brooklyn Skyline, as outlined by Strada during walks through the neighborhood. This Mobiles for mutual help Faithful to beauty and function, playfulness and pragmatism. They undermine the aesthetic codes that New Yorkers unconsciously understand – the same sixth feeling that the skin pokes when seeing a police uniform, or can force us to avert our eyes from someone who asks for change, a tacit denial of a recognition that they exist at all.
The intentional color schemes of these sculptures are saturated without being easy or condescending; They invite attention, instead of a downward look. Their mirrored surfaces reflect the street and the passers -by, which cause curiosity and possibly participation, and also allow people to adjust the clothing and see what they look like. More fundamentally, they claim that this promotion – to be able to choose, is important instead of just being grateful to be dressed. Of Collective mobilityStrada argues that aesthetic care and dignity are not rewards for obtaining basic needs, but something to be found in that dispensation. That art is able to perform that responsibility, and it is a wonderful thing.
Collective mobility Continue in Dekalb Gallery of Pratt Institute (331 Dekalb Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn) until March 9. The exhibition was organized by the artist.
