Street Art Interventions

A post-mortem of an experiment sharing art in my neighborhood

Hello! This is part of my zine collection BLOCKS where I explore neighborhoods, urban planning, and community centered design.

How might we turn pedestrians into neighborhood explorers?

‘How Might We’

• How might we make the block interactive and entertaining for pedestrians?

• How might we inspire pedestrians to be bold and adventurous?

• How might we put a smile on a pedestrians face?

• How might we educate pedestrians about their location?

• How might we create a sense of place and community?

• How might we make the block an art gallery?

• How might we make the block a destination?

Libre Gallery - A Free Art Exchange

Goals:

I wanted to create a moment where pedestrians could pause and appreciate art. But I didn’t want it to be one piece they would see all the time. I hoped the work displayed could change over time. Rather than giving myself the task of constantly creating new art and rotating the pieces, I took inspiration from little free libraries where the community shares their book collection with each other.

I love the idea of free art. Handmade art shouldn’t be only for the wealthy to appreciate in their homes, and for everyone else must see in museums. Everyone can be an artist and should be encouraged to be creative and share their creativity with others. A little free art gallery invites pedestrians to not only view and take art, but to make and leave art as well.

Notes on Street Sharing

1. Weatherproofing seems important

2. It’s all about consumables and reusables

   1. Library – consume and recycle books

   2. Food – take and consume

   3. Art – take and keep. More permanent

   4. Specific to peoples taste. Different reasons someone might take it than a book or food

3. A totem of the larger house / neighborhood

   1. They often look like miniature version of the house or neighborhood, expressed through design.

How might we document interaction with the gallery?

1. Digital hash-tag #

   1. I felt strongly that these projects should be about bringing people into the physical neighborhood they are occupying. Using a # would encourage viewers to pull out their phone. Social media often separates us from local community in favor of a global non-community. This option would get in the way of my physical-community-local friendly focus

2. Have a video camera so can watch later

   1. Obvious Surveillance would not be inviting people into the space and take things. It would imply this was meant to be private and controlled, not my intention.

3. Sign-in book like a ‘real’ gallery (tried this)

4. When new art appears (tried this)

5. When art is taken (tried this)

6. Posters with cutouts that you tear

Before a boring chain-link fence

After art gallery made with magnetic frame

First two weeks

I seeded it with some art...

...and others contributed too!

Many more contributions since! :)

Guest Book

In first 2 weeks:

• 6 pages filled

• 14 people left comments (the book is now filled)

Lessons Learned

• People are excited to view and share art

• People will write in the sign in book

• Idea: create a community sketch book where people draw in it

• Paper can get rained on and not be ruined

• I don’t need many magnets or a huge space to showcase a roving group of art, smaller might be better

• Rain gets in the little house holding the sign-in book, even with a roof. Add a door to keep rain out.