Congress for Urban Transformation: Video

CUT Interventions: Workshops, Oct. 22-26

 

From October 22 to 26, Flint Public Art Project invited artists and designers from around the country to work with groups to landscape a new orchard, design and build seating for a bus stop, and create small-scale physical models to illustrate changes residents would like to see in their neighborhoods. On the opening night of the conference, participants share the results of these collaborations. James Rojas presents his planning workshops with five groups in the city, Alex Gilliam shares his design-build interventions with Job Corps, Susannah Drake is joined by Derek Williams of Peace Mob to argue for sustainable reuse of vacant lots, and Bill Hammond discusses the Salem Community Development Corporation mural project. Unified Sisters perform. Arlow Xan plays musical interludes.


CUT: Reclaiming Former Industrial Sites, Oct. 27



Former factories sites can be transformed into public spaces, museums, and thriving communities. See how cities around the world are reclaiming abandoned industrial areas, restoring plants and wildlife, recovering their industrial history, and reconnecting people to abandoned spaces. Center for Community Progress fellow Steve Montle and environmental engineer Joel Parker report on the city's efforts to remediate Chevy-in-the-Hole, a 130-acre former GM manufacturing plant in the heart of the city. Jill Allen of Stoss Landscape Urbanism and Susannah Drake of dlandstudio share examples from their own practices and historical precedents.


Growing urban agriculture, Oct. 27

In cities across the country, residents are reclaiming vacant lots to grow food, provide job training, educate young people, and create safe public spaces. How can city governments, citizens, and partners support and expand this movement? Learn how urban farmers and gardeners in Flint, Toledo, and New York City are gaining access to land, soil, and other resources to strengthen their communities. Speakers include Greg Gaines of Mr. Rogers Garden Program, Stephen Arellano, urban food systems consultant, and Jerome Chou, editor of Five Borough Farm. Arlow Xan performs musical interludes.

Re-using abandoned buildings and vacant lots, Oct. 27



How can cities and residents turn devalued land into opportunities? Discarded materials, public events, temporary spaces, and other unconventional strategies can inspire possibilities for reusing vacant buildings and land. Doug Weiland, executive director of the Genesee County Land Bank, describes initiatives to manage vacant properties, and artists and architects present examples of beauty made from ruins and activated empty spaces.  Speakers include Daniel D'Oca of Interboro Partners, Kyong Park, founder of Storefront for Art and Architecture, and Matthieu Bain and Andrew Perkins of the Dwelling on Waste project, with CUP founder and Newark chief urban designer Damon Rich serving as moderator. Arlow Xan performs musical interludes.


Planning and process for legacy cities, Oct. 27

Master plans are the road map to a city’s future. They point residents, businesses, and city governments toward a common destination. An inclusive, accessible process can bring communities together to imagine what a city can be. Planners and architects working in Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia compare notes with Flint’s Chief Planner Megan Hunter on the challenges and opportunities their cities face and the best ways to engage publics.

CUT Locations

Congress for Urban Transformation takes place at 4 sites.

1) Fri. Oct. 26, 7 - 9 pm at UM-Flint KIVA Auditorium at the Harding Mott University Center (UCEN).

2) Sat. Oct. 27, 10 - 6 pm at UM-Flint Michigan Rooms A & B at the UCEN.

3) Sun. Oct. 28, 9 am - 9:45 am at Chevy-in-the-Hole, Parcel B, with parking at Atwood Stadium and pedestrian entrance on Stevenson Street between Bluff and Kearsley/ Glenwood.

4) Sun. Oct. 28 10 am - 1 pm at Kettering University International Room, 1700 University Ave.

For full schedule, go to our events page.

For questions, call program coordinator Rob McCullough at 810-618-2690.

Congress for Urban Transformation: Program & Schedule

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CONGRESS FOR URBAN TRANSFORMATION (CUT) is a week-long gathering of residents, city officials, and visiting artists, architects, planners, and community organizers to exchange ideas, build consensus toward a shared vision, and help reimagine the city. The conference is organized by Flint Public Art Project in collaboration with Mayor Dayne Walling, Chief Planner Megan Hunter, University of Michigan-Flint, Kettering University, and Mott Community College.

During the week of October 22 – October 28, visiting artists and designers will work with community partners to engage residents in designing and planning specific sites throughout the city. These events will culminate in a three-day conference from October 26 - 28 featuring talks and conversations with local, regional, national, and international leaders in urban revitalization. The final day will end with a public workshop to generate strategies to transform a section of the Chevy-in-the-Hole site into an active public space.

Fri Oct. 26, 7 – 9 pm

UM–Flint: KIVA Auditorium, 400 Mill St.

7:00 pm  Introduction: Stephen Zacks
7:15 pm  Welcome: Mayor Dayne Walling
7:25 pm  Dan Kildee, Democratic Candidate for Congress and Co-founder, Genesee County Land Bank
7:35 pm  Performance: Unified Sisters

7:50 pm – 9:00 pm  
Interventions
From October 22 to 26, Flint Public Art Project is inviting artists and designers from around the country to work with groups to landscape a new orchard, design and build seating for a bus stop, and create small-scale physical models to illustrate changes residents would like to see in their neighborhoods. On the opening night of the conference, participants share the results of these collaborations.

To participate in an urban intervention with a visiting designer, contact Jerome Chou.

Sat Oct 27, 10 am – 6 pm

UM–Flint: Michigan Room, 303 E. Kearsley St.

Panel discussions

10:00am - 11:30am
Reclaiming former industrial sites

Former factories sites can be transformed into public spaces, museums, and thriving communities. See how cities around the world are reclaiming abandoned industrial areas, restoring plants and wildlife, recovering their industrial history, and reconnecting people to abandoned spaces. Center for Community Progress fellow Steve Montle and environmental engineer Joel Parker report on the city’s efforts to remediate Chevy-in-the-Hole, a 130-acre former GM manufacturing plant in the heart of the city.

11:30am - 1:00pm
Growing urban agriculture

In cities across the country, residents are reclaiming vacant lots to grow food, provide job training, educate young people, and create safe public spaces. How can city governments, citizens, and partners support and expand this movement? Learn how urban farmers and gardeners in Flint, Toledo, and New York City are gaining access to land, soil, and other resources to strengthen their communities.

1:00pm - 2:00pm
LUNCH at Hoffman's Deli
503 Garland St @ West 2nd Ave

2:15pm - 3:45pm
Re-using abandoned buildings and vacant lots

How can cities and residents turn devalued land into opportunities? Discarded materials, public events, temporary spaces, and other unconventional strategies can inspire possibilities for reusing vacant buildings and land. Doug Weiland, executive director of the Genesee County Land Bank, describes initiatives to manage vacant properties, and artists and architects present examples of beauty made from ruins and activated empty spaces.

3:45pm - 5:15pm
Planning and process for legacy cities

Master plans are the road map to a city’s future. They point residents, businesses, and city governments toward a common destination. An inclusive, accessible process can bring communities together to imagine what a city can be. Planners and architects working in Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia compare notes with Flint’s Chief Planner Megan Hunter on the challenges and opportunities their cities face and the best ways to engage publics.

Sun Oct 28, 9 am – 1 pm
Stevenson Street between Bluff and Glenwood; and Kettering University: International Room, 1700 University Ave.

Site visit and public workshop
The City of Flint is in the process of rehabilitating the former GM manufacturing landscape known as Chevy-in-the-Hole. FPAP and the Center for Community Progress welcome residents to the first public tour of the site since its closing, highlighting current initiatives and emerging possibilities. Following the tour, participants are invited to two workshops: Opening Chevy shares details about the opportunities and constraints for reuse of the site; Speeding Chevy organizes participants into small groups to generate strategies to reclaim the site with temporary activities, events, and programs.

Chevy-in-the-Hole Tour 
Meet at the marked gate on Stevenson Street between Bluff and Glenwood
9:00am - 9:45am

Interactive workshops

Kettering University: International Room, 1700 University Ave.

10am - 1pm

Light refreshments will be served

SPEAKERS:

Jill Allen, Stoss Landscape Urbanism

Stephen Arellano, Food Systems Consultant

Matthieu Bain + Andrew Perkins, Dwelling on Waste

Susannah Drake, dlandstudio

Alex Gilliam, Public Workshop

Megan Hunter, Chief Planner, City of Flint 

Interboro Partners

Dan Kildee, Democratic Candidate for Congress; Co-founder, Genesee County Land Bank

Dan Kinkead, Hamilton Anderson Architects

Steve Montle, Center for Community Progress

Kyong Park, Founder, Storefront for Art & Architecture

Joel Parker, Project Designer and Engineer, Chevy-in-the-Hole

Damon Rich, Chief Urban Designer, City of Newark; Founder, Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

James Rojas, Place–It!

Brent Ryan, Design After Decline

Dayne Walling, Mayor, City of Flint

Doug Weiland, Genesee County Land Bank

INFORMATION FOR VISITORS

Flint Public Art Project organizes public events, workshops, and temporary installations to inspire residents to reimagine the city, reclaim vacant and underutilized buildings and lots, and use innovative tools to steer the city’s long-term planning.

We support collaborations among local residents and organizations with leading artists, architects, planners, and community organizers from around the world, connecting the city to regional, national, and global movements to revitalize places through art and design.

We are documenting and amplifying the many ways residents, businesses, and institutions are transforming the city, its public image and identity, and broadcasting this new story to audiences throughout the world.

Fall Events/ Save the Date - Congress for Urban Transformation (CUT), Oct. 26-28

FALL EVENTS

[7 - 9 pm] Fri. Oct. 5

Potluck and Screening of "The Greenhorns" 

Flint River Farm/ Spacebuster, 

1623 Beach Street

Bring food to share for a potluck with local urban farmers, and a documentary about a new generation of young farmers in America. 

[7 - 11 pm] Fri. Oct. 12

Kero and Annie Hall - Art Walk 

Genesee Towers/ Spacebuster, 

120 E. First Street 

Windsor-based veterans of the Detroit electronic music scene Kero and Annie Hall perform and install projection mapping work onto the Genesee Towers.

SAVE THE DATE

Oct 26 - 28

Flint Public Art Project presents

Congress for Urban Transformation (CUT)

CONGRESS FOR URBAN TRANSFORMATION (CUT) is a week-long gathering of residents, city officials, and visiting artists, architects, planners, and community organizers to exchange ideas, build consensus toward a shared vision, and help reimagine the city. The conference is organized by Flint Public Art Project in collaboration with Mayor Dayne Walling, chief planner Megan Hunter, University of Michigan-Flint, Kettering University, and Mott Community College.

During the week of October 21 - 28, visiting artists and designers will work with community partners to engage residents in designing and planning specific sites throughout the city. These events will culminate in a three-day conference from October 26 - 28 featuring talks and conversations with local, regional, national, and international leaders in urban revitalization. The final day will end with a public workshop to generate strategies to transform a section of the Chevy-in-the-Hole site into an active public space.


Photo: Jesse Sugarmann

Flint Public Art Project is produced in affiliation with Flint Institute of Arts and Red Ink Flint with support from ArtPlace. 

About the Spacebuster: 

The Spacebuster is a mobile inflatable structure designed by Raumlabor in 2009 and commissioned by Storefront for Art and Architecture to transform public spaces of all kinds into points for community gathering. 

Storefront for Art and Architecture has kindly loaned the Spacebuster for this event. 

Vote for Art House

Carriage Town Historic Neighborhood Association is collaborating with Flint Public Art Project to renovate an abandoned home in the city’s oldest neighborhood as a cooperative art and community space – using an imaginative rebuilding process to help train local residents how to revitalize some of the city’s other 20,000 abandoned buildings.

Led by Andrew Perkins, a recent graduate of State University of New York–Buffalo architecture school who rescued an abandoned house in upstate NY using only recycled materials, Carriage Town and Flint Public Art Project are collaborating with local, regional, and national artists to reuse the magnificent Spencer’s Mortuary, once owned by one of Flint’s leading civil rights figures.

Taking cues from the civil rights meetings held at Spencer’s to transform social conditions, Carriage Town and Flint Public Art Project are planning a series of public workshops to engage residents, city officials, and nonprofits in discussions on how to transform the building into a new community center and reconstruct it using all sustainable and salvaged materials. Located steps from a Native American burial ground, blocks from birthplace of the American auto industry, and halfway between two thriving universities, Spencer’s Art House project is perfectly situated as a beacon of the transformation of Flint already underway.

Funds from Chase Community Giving will offset major renovation costs, including repairing the roof and foundation, installing insulation, solar power, and gray water recycling, and turning the home into a model for the emerging new city. Spencer’s Art House will demonstrate that abandoned homes can be reborn as neighborhood resources – both in Flint and in cities nationwide.

Here's where you vote for the Spencer's project: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charity/view/ein/38-2587577. You have to allow the Chase Community Giving App--it posts who you vote for on your Facebook page--then vote for Carriage Town Historic Neighborhood Association. If you do this it will help us rebuild this structure as an art and community space.

If you have a Chase banking account, you can vote here as well.

Intern/Volunteer Info Session

This Saturday at 7pm, Flint Public Art Project is holding a one-hour information session for potential volunteers and interns.

This is an amazing opportunity to get directly involved with an exciting, high impact project.


FPAP volunteers will provide critical support for our art and design projects, events, workshops, exhibitions, interventions and actions. We are looking specifically for social media power-users, street artists, designers, and others interested in the built environment.

FPAP interns will help drive our programming and projects, collaborating directly with visiting artists, designers, staff, and local stakeholders, co-curating shows, developing original projects and programs.


About Flint Public Art Project

Flint Public Art Project organizes public events, workshops, and temporary installations to inspire residents to reimagine the city, reclaim vacant and underutilized buildings and lots, and use innovative tools to guide Flint’s master planning process and improve the city’s design.

Flint Public Art Project supports collaborations between local residents and organizations with leading artists, architects, planners, and community organizers from around the world, connecting the city to regional, national, and global movements to revitalize neighborhoods and cities through art and design.

The project will publicize and amplify the many ways local residents, businesses, and institutions are transforming Flint and its public image and identity, and broadcast this new story to audiences throughout the city and the world.


FPAP Intern / Volunteer Information Session
124 W. 1st Street
(Above The Local)
Flint, Michigan
Saturday, September 8th
7pm-8pm

Please RSVP to:
Jamesfpap@gmail.com

 

http://www.flintpublicartproject.com/
http://www.facebook.com/flintproject

Help Out With Spencer's

People
Spencer's is envisioned as a collaborative construct and canvas for experimentation. Painters wanting to do murals, welders wanting to do sculpture, performers looking for a venue, anyone or group just interested in lending a hand is welcome and encouraged to get in contact with us. Right now some of the more creative projects anticipated include: tiling mosaics, sculptural/ornamental security bars for the windows, painting, any sculptural work for interior or exterior display. Individual proposals and ideas also very welcome. We love to hear new ideas. Have an interest in using reclaimed/found materials? Even better.

Materials
Working on a renovation? Have scrap materials laying around? Is your father-in-law a contractor? See a sweet pile of goods put out on the side of the road? Get in touch with us. If you're throwing it away, we can probably use it. 

Contact: 5858138911

aaperkins88@gmail.com

To date, Dwelling on Waste has used:

broken toilets
pallets
sheet plastic
old, broken windows
scrap metal of all kinds
ripped scrap drywall
any insulation
bricks
tires
colored plastics
light diffusers
crib railings
broken chairs
table legs
inflatable pool
broken ladders
bathtubs
large signs
broken televisions
dirt
wire clothes hangers
old lumber
couch springs
spare anything
bumpers for a waterbed
various furniture
broken anything
...etc

Five Found Pieces by Stefan Eins

For the August 10th Artwalk through August 12th, Flint Public Art Project presents five found pieces by Stefan Eins, a visiting artist-in-residence in the city through August 21st as a part of the FPAP program.

Stefan Eins is the founder of the legendary New York City alternative space Fashion Moda, which became a stomping ground for Bronx-based artists, graffiti-writers, DJs, rappers, and beat-boys, who mixed with emerging conceptual artists from the downtown scene just starting to gain recognition. Crash, Daze, Fab Five Freddy, John Ahearn, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, and Keith Haring were among the artists who showed in the gallery. It was the space that launched hip hop into the downtown scene and made graffiti a recognized form in the art world. Shows from Fashion Moda traveled across the country, activating collaborative projects with communities in the Midwest, and participated in major exhibitions in Europe. Eins’ work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world including Documenta 7 and the Neuberger Museum.

For the Artwalk, Eins is displaying images relating to his ongoing investigations of found formations in urban space, including "Tree," "Kearsley Street," "MCC FabLab," "1421 Illinois," and "Soldier." The works are inspired by objects identified during his first week visiting sites and meeting with collaborators. Large format limited edition prints are exhibited in the windows of the Gazall Lewis & Associates offices on the corner of First St. and Saginaw, and on the unoccupied building at the corner of Second St. and Saginaw. The artist will be present in downtown Flint during the Artwalk and Dropfest to meet participants and discuss the work. 

The Art Project is Hiring

Flint Public Art Project is currently seeking candidates for two part-time staff positions to help facilitate its programming for the coming year. This is an opportunity to collaborate on a wide-ranging project of international scope, be connected to some of the most innovative contemporary artists, designers, architects, planners, photographers, and make a significant contribution to the field. These openings are not limited to local residents but will require spending at least half of the time and often entire periods in Flint to facilitate projects and programs. The program administrator will be paid $1000 per month. The project manager will be paid $650 per month. Applicants should send a CV and letter of interest by July 31 to info@flintpublicartproject.com.


Program Administrator

Ideal candidate will demonstrate: 

- administrative experience

- good organizational capacity

- excellent clarity and facility with verbal and written expression

- firm understanding of mission of project

- interest in and familiarity with contemporary installation, public art, light- and projection, performance, and social practice work

- capacity to reach out to underserved communities and members of underrepresented groups


Responsibilities include:

- reporting to and working as assistant to the producer and creative director

- facilitating programming, scheduling, and sharing technical information with invited artists about sites, local participants, logistics, travel.

- coordinating incoming artists and facilitating collaboration with local participants and partners

- tailoring mission statements to potential funding opportunities and partners, including grants, corporate and local sponsors, beer sponsors, national and international institutions

- corresponding with new artists, reaching out to local, regional, and international participants, including performance artists, musicians, light and projection artists, and installation artists

- participating as artist and cultural producer, designer, and curator

Candidate should have a minimum of a B.A. or B.F.A. in an arts, humanities, social science, management, or relevant field. 

Project Manager

Ideal candidate will demonstrate:

- good interpersonal skills

- excellent organizational capacity

- clarity and facility with verbal and written expression

- firm understanding of mission of project

- interest in and familiarity with contemporary installation, public art, light- and projection, performance, and social practice work

- capacity to reach out to underserved communities and members of underrepresented groups


Responsibilities include:

- reporting to program administrator and director

- coordinating projects by visiting artists

- connecting visiting artists with relevant community organizations or local artists

- facilitating collaborations between artists and groups

- helping source and access materials for projects

- assisting in realizing artists ideas

- providing logistical support for projects

- sharing relevant information with program administrator and director

Candidate should have a minimum of a B.A. or B.F.A. in an arts, humanities, social science, or relevant field.

Dwelling on Waste: Flint

On July 15,  2012, architects Matthieu Bain and Andrew Perkins begin an artist residency sponsored by the Art Project. For the next six months, Bain and Perkins, recent graduates of the State University of New York - Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, will begin cleaning and maintaining the former Spencer's Mortuary building while living in a neighboring house donated for use of the project. 

The artists are being encouraged by the Art Project to pursue an artistic process responsive to the specific nature of the house and its environment, planning the adaptation of the building for a public use to be determined by them in cooperation with the project, the surrounding community, and local arts groups and institutions. 

Over the coming months, the Art Project will use the building grounds for small public events, meetings, performances--and once it meets building codes--office space for local artists and visitors to our programs. The Spencer's Art House project is modeled after Bain and Perkins' master's thesis, Dwelling on Waste, which transformed a distressed home in Buffalo into a warm off-the-grid shelter for the artists and friends, catalyzing new relationships between neighbors, and demonstrating an affordable and sustainable reuse of abandoned properties in the post-industrial city. 

Cannibalizing the material and spatial remains of the post-industrial city creates a shifting domestic condition guided by necessity. This survivalist architecture must address utilities (water, heat), security, varying climatic conditions, food storage, and mental comfort, always adapting itself according to what it has on hand. This method of design and the restriction of material palette removes the superficial from the work. It addresses economy and sustainability through adaptive reuse of material and space. It confuses social order through a new mode of living, looking to squatting and alternative lifestyles as inspiration. It challenges political bodies by acting as a form of protest to the current housing policies: demolition as a remedy to urban decay.

Ground Breaking Art Party

On Friday, July 13 from 7 pm to midnight, the Public Art Project returns downtown to light up the streets with video projections, glowing dancers in white Tyvek suits, a killer techno DJ, and sculptural lounge seating by New York-based Serbian-Jewish architect Srdjan Jovanovic-Weiss.



The first event in a year of art actions throughout the city, including the Congress for Urban Transformation (CUT) in October and the Free City Festival in May, Ground Breaking Art Party transforms First Street between Saginaw and Harrison into a place of spectacle, beauty, and play.

As dusk approaches, join us in the shadow of the famed Genesee Towers for an open-air Art Party: because this is contemporary art in the new city, and the days of the top-down Charity City are at an end.

Produced by Flint Public Art Project in affiliation with Flint Institute of Arts. Featuring Eric Hinds, DJ Litz, and Flint Community Dance Collaboration.

Impressions of Flint by Sinan Imre

When Stephen Zacks and I left for Flint, Michigan with a truckload of Z-Blocks — sculptural seating structures designed by Srdjan Jovanovic-Weiss of Normal Architecture Office — from New York City last Friday, I did not quite know what to expect. I knew that we were on our way to a supposedly stricken place, thus I could not help but leave with a slight feeling of doubt.

After a long day of driving, our journey led us to Braddock, a small town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At this point, I should say that the only places I have traveled to outside New York are places that are known to be attractive for travel. Braddock was not. When you drive into Braddock from the East, the first thing you pass is Edgar Thomson Steel Plant. 

At its gates is a smiling giant, wearing orange worker pants and bending a piece of steel with his bare hands. One could imagine this symbol of strength greeting the habitants of this city back when it was alive with the workers of the steel industry and their families walking through the streets. Now these very streets are lined with abandoned delis, cafes, restaurants, houses, lots and churches. 

But there are still signs of rejuvenation, and seeing that this rejuvenation is starting with art gives me hope. One of the abandoned churches — the 1880’s United Bretheren Church —has been given to artist Caledonia Dance Curry, better known as Swoon. She is part of Transformazium a collective of artists and activists that re-imagine Braddock’s abandoned spaces similar to what the Flint Public Art Project is attempting in Flint.

Upon arriving in Flint, our task was immediately laid out for us. Without rest, we at once wanted to see the abandoned house that we have been given on the condition of fixing it up. Spencer’s Funeral Home, on the corner of University and Grand Traverse streets has been closed for decades. It's been left to rot as many of the other houses in the neighborhood. 

When its doors opened before us, piles of debris, a collapsed roof, boarded windows, no light, filthy air, and a dead squirrel greeted us. I realized at that very moment that it is experiences like the one described here that truly test someone’s faith in their endeavors. I will admit that seeing the condition that Spencer’s was in did shake my confidence. But at once, we started to shovel, opened windows and took down some boards and within minutes, the place had already started to transform. The beautiful two-story historic home that had the potential to be flooded by natural light from each and every direction started to breathe again.

With the Z-Blocks laid out in its lawn the doors wide open, Spencer’s began to attract a lot of the locals. Within a few hours, the entire neighborhood knew what we were going to transform Spencer’s into. Many came to help, others came to just have a conversation. One woman began to cry and hugged us for opening the doors of the funeral home where the service for her grandfather was held. At the end of the day, my faith in the project was twofold what it was that morning. 

The immediate impact of our continuing attempts at revitalizing Spencer’s Funeral Home as a community art center and a place for art happenings combined with the presence of Transformazium in Braddock have already shown me the power that art holds over economic and social improvement. -SINAN IMRE

Flint Public Art Project Wins ArtPlace Grant

Flint Public Art Project Launches Series of Urban Actions Thanks to ArtPlace Grant

ArtPlace releases 47 grants supporting creative placemaking initiatives in 33 communities nationwide

(Flint, MI, June 12, 2012) Flint Public Art Project (FPAP) will soon be launching a series of spectacular and practical actions in the city, featuring inflatable structures, building-scale video projections, urban research programs, and conceptual performances in the street – thanks to a substantial grant from ArtPlace announced today.

FPAP’s ongoing events will be produced in collaboration with visiting artists from Detroit, Toledo, Buffalo, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Japan, and China, bringing the vitality and expertise of the global art and architecture scene to the city. In the fall, the project is organizing a Congress for Urban Engagement that will combine public discussions with programs by urban planners that use innovative tools to involve residents of all ages in designing the city’s future. These programs are being organized in close partnership with Mayor Dayne Walling and chief planner Megan Hunter. Among the visiting architects and organizations expected to participate are Interboro Partners, James Rojas, Damon Rich, Center for Urban Pedagogy, Public Workshop, Dland Studios, and Srdjan Jovanovic-Weiss.

"This project will shine a positive light on Flint and show off the creative work that is taking place here to turn our community around,” Mayor Walling said. “The timing of this project could not be better—it will illustrate new ideas and strategies that can be incorporated into the master planning process.”

In addition to planning, Flint Public Art Project will promote a series of art provocations, architectural form-making experiments, and spectacular video projections, culminating in a May 1- 4, 2013 public art festival. Entries will be open to local, regional, and international participants, inviting proposals for light-and-projection art, performances, and installations to transform a disused former factory site into a temporary public space and demonstrate its potential future use. “We want to encourage residents to feel free to transform the city through their own creative energy and actions,” said Flint Public Art Project director Stephen Zacks. “Every vacant lot is an opportunity to experiment, play, and reimagine.”

Flint Public Art Project will receive a $250,000 grant from ArtPlace, a new national collaboration of 11 major national and regional foundations, six of the nation’s largest banks, and eight federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts, to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S. To date, ArtPlace has raised almost $50 million to work alongside federal and local governments to transform communities with strategic investments in the arts.

"Across the country, cities and towns are using the arts to help shape their social, physical, and economic characters," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. "The arts are a part of everyday life, and I am thrilled to see yet another example of an arts organization working with city, state, and federal offices to help strengthen and revitalize their communities through the arts. It is wonderful that ArtPlace and its funders have recognized this work and invested in it so generously."

Flint Public Art Project is one of three Southeast Michigan organizations funded by ArtPlace in 2012 and among the 47 creative placemaking initiatives nationwide supported by the collaboration this year. Power House Productions and the Detroit Institute of Arts are also receiving ArtPlace support.  

“The Detroit and Flint projects receiving ArtPlace funding exemplify the best in creative placemaking,” explained ArtPlace’s Carol Coletta. “They demonstrate a deep understanding of how smart investments in art, design and culture as part of a larger portfolio of revitalization strategies can change the trajectory of communities and increase economic opportunities for people.”

ArtPlace received almost 2200 letters of inquiry from organizations seeking a portion of the $15.4 million available for grants in this cycle.  Inquiries came from 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands.

In September, ArtPlace will release a new set of metrics to measure changes over time in the people, activity and real estate value in the communities where ArtPlace has invested with its grants. 

Participating foundations include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Robina Foundation, The William Penn Foundation and an anonymous donor. In addition to the NEA, federal partners are the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council. ArtPlace is also supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions and managed by the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Participating institutions are Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife and Morgan Stanley.

A complete list of this year’s ArtPlace awards can be found at artplaceamerica.org.

Madagascar Institute Chevrolet Art Park* Projects

Madagascar Institute has been high on our list of proposed participants for more than two years, and since then a lot has happened. The artist collective bought a block of houses in Detroit near the River Rouge plant to use as an artist residency and went from being an underground phenomenon whose dangerous play contraptions made from recycled car parts, jet engines, and industrial materials were featured in alternative spaces, warehouse parties, and Maker Faires to a legal entity featured in the New York Times, Popular Mechanics, and on Science channel shows.

                                                                                  Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times

We finally met up with Hackett at the Madagascar Institute shop, at the end of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, to discuss what might be possible to do in Flint and how to do it. We agreed that a plan for ongoing production, collaborations with local makers, and a spirit of performance and fun are high priorities for building a useful program.

Madagascar Institute has created a few projects that were particularly funny over the years, in particular the Chariot Race of "jankety, cobbled together, dangerous-to-even-look at" homemade vehicles at the 2010 NY Maker Faire, featuring participants dressed in gold lame short-shorts--especially people who should never ever wear short-shorts--and the Jet Ponies, an amusement ride that involved guests sitting on top of decommissioned airplane engines lit with a blowtorch flying in circles. 

The "This Ride Will May Kill You" sign and waivers were key, but no one was harmed during the event.

*Chevrolet Art Park is the name for a temporary alternative use of the former Chevrolet manufacturing site known locally as "Chevy-in-the-hole."

Seeding Time

Our collaborators at MTAA have issued another proclamation of forthcoming urban intervention by digital media and mail.

You might of heard of Flower Bombing. In general, I do not think this will work with pumpkin seeds. I have a feeling that you will probably only end up feeding squirrels. Also, as seen in the linked video, I do not advocate driving around Flint tossing clumps of dirt out of the back of pickup trucks into well kept lawns as this is A.) dorky and B.)  most likely pointless due to the fact that Mr and Mrs. well-kept-lawn, as well as the maintenance workers of Flint, will probably just weed whack anything that does not look like kentucky blue grass. 

Here is what I suggest. Find a patch of ground that is out of the way and will gets plenty of sun. Look for land that seems to be overgrown, ignored and forgotten.  Every big city has them. They are filler spaces stuck in some in between state. This space is perfect for a bit of urban gardening.  In the list, I say “public park” but any open space will do. This could be a parking lot, road divide or even be your front lawn. 

When you have your location picked out, it’s time for some rouge and perhaps nocturnal gardening. 

Read on at the project site for further details: Seeding Time. 

Materials for Protest and Memory

Los Angeles-based photographer Farrah Karapetian, a participant in the Flint Public Art Project is currently featured in an interview in ArtForum. Her solo show “Representation3” opens on April 14 at Roberts & Tilton, and her ongoing project, Student Body Politic, will be shown at the Vincent Price Art Museum from May 22 through August 17.

Karapetian began making photograms in 2002 after a trip to Kosovo; an accident in the darkroom resulted in her first cameraless print. Photograms are photographic images created without a camera using photo-sensitive paper. Karapetian felt at the time that the photogram responded to her frustrations with the editorial assignment and the process of making prints.



The immediacy of that experience and the potential for experimentation made her stop using cameras. The resulting images bear a more tangible relationship with things in the world without the mediation of the camera apparatus; at the same time the technique abstracts the image, creating a haunted representational glow.



Her earlier photograms were more formal explorations of process, but as she began to apply her work to site-specific installations and re-enactments of news photographs, the one-to-one relation to material became a way of making the capture, printing and display a social sculptural act.



Accessory to Protest, her show of photograms and constructed negatives last winter at the LeadApron gallery on Melrose Place--a shopping-bag rich strip of high-end boutiques like Carolina Herrera, Diane Von Furstenberg, Helmut Lang, Vera Wang, et. al.--takes the everyday accoutrements of political demonstrations as a primary material and implicitly comments on the location of their display.



A pamphlet widely distributed in Egypt during the spring revolt instructed demonstrators on eight items of "necessary clothing and accessories" for participation in protests: goggles to protect against tear gas, a hoodie to protect your face, a scarf to protect your mouth and lungs, pot lids to use as shields against rubber bullets and beatings by security forces, thick rubber gloves to defend against tear gas cannisters, a rose as a gesture of peace, spray paint as self-defense, and shoes that enable you to run and move quickly.



Aestheticized and commodified through the act of exposure, processing, and display in a gallery on Melrose Place, the flyer becomes a questionable artifact of living history, and the photograms become documents of cultural contradiction, re-situated in a place where the demand for economic activity to drive job growth confronts the radical inequality pervasive in the existing liberal-democratic model.



As part of the Flint Public Art Project--the ongoing program to activate disused sites in the Midwestern city of Flint, Michigan through public art and urban interventions--Karapetian has proposed an installation on the Chevrolet brownfield site that would expose the memory of the former factories, whose outlines remain embedded in the landscape in the form of concrete foundations of demolished buildings.

She proposes to have workers and city residents engage in a series of tours of the site that would demonstrate the persistence of memory and the possible transformation of the site into a public space.



"The tours would have as their guide nothing, initially, but the stories and muscle memory of the people leading them. As these tours take place, a map of the stories would be made: who traveled down this hallway and at what time, who had a breakdown here and a laugh there, who was late to reach this point and whose office was he sent to for a reprimand. The maps would accumulate and intersect, re-writing the floorplan of the former factory. This would be a performance of memory that would write its own script."



"That script could have its own future: it could be recorded digitally, as a scan of the overlapping drawings and a transcription of the stories. This could be printed. If, as the Flint Futures Group develops and realizes one of its two proposals – Flintʼs Urban Riverfront or the Flint River State Park – the Group would like to see one of these maps made into a permanent part of the landscape, it would be very possible to integrate a full-scale rendering of the memory of former workers into the ground. For example, in the case of the Urban Riverfront, which calls for a containment of contaminants and a capping with concrete, the memory-made map could be etched with environmentally safe acid into the concrete, creating a two-dimensional path not unlike a labyrinth or a game of hop-scotch that would re-institutionalize the stories of local people into the land."



Originally published in Heroes & Charlatans.