Tag Archive for the term: public space

Word on the street is it’s happening in cities all over the world. What is at best a blindness to the reality at the grassroots of art making, and at worst a concerted attempt to stifle, is either way resulting in municipal legislation that constrains and kills arts community hubs and therefore shreds and oppresses [...]

I’ve been writing a bit lately about public art. I just came across the work of Paul “Moose” Curtis on Laughing Squid. The British artist does large-scale designs on underpasses and building walls using a process called “reverse graffiti“, where he takes high-pressured water and removes dirt through stencils to make his images. Here’s a [...]

In the NYC vs X-Mas contest, Williamsburg is waaay ahead. Thanks to ye olde heat-island effect, it’s practically t-shirt weather, without a snowflake in sight. Of course, nobody who lives in this neighbourhood is actually from Williamsburg and anybody who is hung up on Christmas traidtions is likely home for the holidays.
Centered around the Bedford [...]

My bicycle tires crunch through frozen puddles. I’m bundled in a hat, scarf, ski mitts, down jacket, in wooly socks and jeans and tights, because a couple flurries and incoherent late-night bus routes won’t keep me home tonight.
I’m headed for Dare-Dare’s Plan d’Aménagement, urban planning meets performance art in an empty Rosemont store front. The [...]

According to cleanliness laws in the Plateau Montreal, it is illegal to stick, staple or nail anything to public property. Like the other boroughs that address postering, the Plateau lumps “affichage sauvage” together with graffiti and tagging. This betrays the city’s complete failure to grasp the role of postering, and to address and regulate it in a relevant way.

When I was invited to participate in Design Montreal’s student workshop about the future of Place d’Armes, a historical square in Old Montreal, I expected to be the sole artsy in a room full of technically-trained urban planning students and lanscape architects. Turns out I haven’t seen such an eclectic spectacle since Indyish’s last Monthly [...]

I’m usually reluctant to let city planners lose on our precious public spaces - especially ones with great historical significance like Place d’Armes. However, an afternoon spent in the square revealed to me that there is indeed room for improvement in the site’s design. For one thing, the square is disconnected from the urban fabric, an island lost in a sea of traffic and tour busses.

Environmental issues got you down on this enviro-themed blog-action day? Maybe it’s time to stop trying to see the world in green.
In 2003, after spending three years completing a degree in environmental science, I felt like I had learned just about every way that things on this planet had, could and would go catastrophically wrong.
It [...]

The Parc Sans Nom is cross-hatched off on the borough’s zoning map as a sector “to be built and transformed.” According to Dare-Dare, this means putting up a parking lot…On the other hand, formally converting the site into a city park would hardly be a better way to preserve the spirit of the place. It is because this space is unplanned that is invested it with so much potential.

I am on top of the world! …or at least that’s how I feel right now. I’m sitting on my bed, trying to type as quietly as possible. My fingers are covered with gesso, there’s someone sleeping on the living room futon and I’ve no idea who it is, and my poor little feet, so [...]