Saturday, April 25, 2009

Interacting with other students





It was an interesting day. This group of students is living through gentrification in their area.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

some of the interviews

Audio Store Interview:

Why you're here:

Um I actually didn't I moved to Bushwick, um which is 20 minutes away yea I moved here because i was done with school and I needed a job so the best way to do it was to move here and find one

Some of the most drastic changes:

well at one point i heard about two years ago they were kicking out street vendors, like cops were literally kicking them off the streets and uh real estate has gone up drastically.

Where the community is going:

Brooklyn crazy Brooklyn is the most it changes so much it'll go up down left and right i can see it getting more like the lower east side definitely, i mean it could get better it could get worse, Brooklyn is nuts

What you think of Williamsburg now:

now um there are certain parts that are better than others um some parts are really really gentrified especially over the past 4 years I remember the first time i came to Williamsburg I was 19 and it was dingy, it was really dingy, Im 23 now so that's like, and its a lot nicer

-----

Baby Store Interview

um the thing is I've been living here for 6 years already and I know the history of it, I dont know if you know that 15 year ago you wouldn't want to come here because you would get shot and uh down the st its really known for selling cocaine and stuff like that you know, it used to be and there are bullet holes in some of the houses still when you walk around.but now its like its so popular and its like when you walk around you feel like everyone is a movie star or you know like a rock-star its very inspiring i think because everybody has really good style and stuff like that but its also very pretentious and everybody is a fucking artist

mm uh my husband because he was here already

um well i used to because I live on the south side which is very hispanic and uh so you wake up to meringue and go to sleep to meringue and uh h recently i have a big Walgreens in front of my house and it was nice that I was the only white person there and now there are more white people.

oh wow i think the thing is us the people who have lived here for a long time are all sad because they are building big condos by the water so you can't see it anymore almost or you wont be I think its going to become really rich. i think there will be more rich people even I see it with the store because we are half secondhand and half new and we started to buy much more new things because there are more people who want nice stuff and also there is the biggest baby-boom since 1961 right now statistically so uh having a children's store is a very good idea especially secondhand because of the recession.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Group visit to williamsburg


we got out of the station



we are looking at where we should go



we didn't where to start, then we found a little kid's shop
around the corner. so we went in and the owners there are really nice.


then, we stopped people on the streets and in the parks.
there are a lot of people who think we are advertisements.



we walked pretty far down and found this place.
the people there are nicer.


there is also this cute garden store.



there are many very nice little restaurants.

Gentrification was obviously positive and negative. it's good for business and new tourist people and people more from NYC. but, of course this means people who were usually there are in trouble.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Lab Book

A profile of the Williamsburg community focusing on the people who support it
*Main focus the artistic community; their role in the changing demographic
*Also focus on community at large (aka local, established businesses) in order to integrate the thoughts of the artistic community further

*Create a set of questions for each group; ask the same questions in order to create continuity
*Photograph each person/institution;

Our Audience:
*People newly arrived to the Williamsburg community; those who may not know of the drastic changes that the area have experienced
*Those who are heavily invested in the community; providing the alternative perspective of others who are involved in the community

Our Message/Why We Are Doing This:

*To provide a compilation of the perspectives and insights of those who have invested and taken part in the community during the ever changing demographic and cultural scene. We intend to create a book that is informational while being an artistic work. Within the book we will have individual profiles that focus on the responses of each person interviewed.


Each profile will have a photo or photos of the person interviewed and their artwork or the institution they represent.
Each profile will have the responses of the individual to our predetermined series of questions.

revised statement

Our main goal is to focus on local artists, galleries and institutions that strive to nurture and maintain a strong artistic connection to the community. Through exploring these institutions we hope to highlight the active effort that is going into creating an environment in which local artistic expression and development can thrive. We hope to conduct visits to relevant sites and engage the owners or leading individuals in a dialogue that will give them the opportunity to showcase their individual efforts. With a series of like questions we hope to compile a multi-faceted perspective on the history of Williamsburg’s constantly changing artistic community through the eyes and actions of the people who know it best, local artists. By asking the same questions to every person we interview (whether in person or via email etc) we hope to establish a continuity of story about the community while emphasizing the different interpretations and perspectives that each individual has of the changing times.

This would be compiled into a documentary like piece that explored the altering states of the artistic community and it’s response to the drastic changes that Williamsburg has faced.

The ART side



















Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Speech balloons



Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, strips, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing the speech or thoughts of a given character in the comic. i want to bring this out into the real world. this particular bubble is a thought from your head. it can be anything! you can express yourself verbally, but in a different way.

Action: go around Williamsbury and ask the people what they think williamsbury represents/express yourself on current issues/are you happy with what you have now?/what is your identity as a part of this community (williamsburg) and continues....

Black and White Project Space

lack & White Project Space is a not-for-profit organization committed to production, presentation and promotion of site-specific installations that are under-represented in commercial galleries because of their scope, content, or production cost.

Black & White Project Space will prominently feature site specific installations stressing the links between the indoor and outdoor environments by dedicating the entire space to a single artist or artist collective.

We emphasize artists who are emerging to mid-career in their development and manifest the spectrum of creative approaches to contemporary art.

Originally from the former Soviet Union, Alina & Jeff Bliumis often reflect on their own experiences and explore the notions of migration, social developments, and cultural engineering with a focus on ‘foreignness’ and ‘otherness’ in daily social encounters. Casual Conversations in Brooklyn is an anthropological inquiry into Brooklyn’s immigrant communities. Confronted by a radically different reality these new Americans are bound together by pursuing their American dreams and searching for new identities reflective of their new lives. How does one retain cultural roots while creating a new identity?


Casual Conversations in Brooklyn approaches this and other challenging questions in a two-part site-specific installation occupying both the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces. Be Happy – a new project conceived for Black & White Project Space’s unique outdoor space harnesses the gigantic cutout of a young woman with a ‘Be Happy’ talk balloon against the artificial grass surface as a metaphor for ‘greener pastures,’ the search for which entices people to migrate.


The last installment of the ongoing Casual Conversations in Brooklyn project for the indoor space consists of a series of artistic interventions, discussions, and actions that have taken place since 2007. It is comprised of sculptural objects, photographs, video and sound work inspired by public dialogues conducted by the artists in the Brighton Beach community of Brooklyn, and new work specially developed during this exhibition. The newly created and existing work will gradually fill up and claim the space over the course of the exhibition inviting the spectator to share the journey, its beginnings, its evolution, and the stories these wandering objects trigger. This unconventional installation attempts to evoke the transformation of immigrant experience from an ‘empty nest’ to the space defined by new social interactions.

http://broooklynartsee.blogspot.com/2009/03/black-and-white-project-space-grand.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-NY/Black-White-Project-Space/29651217150

Sunday, April 5, 2009

possible question to ask

  • Where do you do your work?
  • Do you work from life, or from photographs or from imagination?
  • What moves you most in life, either to inspire or upset you?
  • Where do you feel art is going?
  • What is the role of the artist in society?
  • What is the place of your work in society?
  • Which is more important to you, the subject of your painting, or the way it is executed?
  • Is your work academic?
  • How important is the subject matter to your artwork?
  • What do you enjoy about art?
  • Who are the parties involved?

Research of Galleries

http://www.outrageouslook.com/galleryinfo.html


Founded: June 2005

Owner/Director: Brook Bartlett

Mission: We are dedicated to presenting emerging international contemporary artists.

Long Term Goals: Outrageous Look is a place where a community of artists can utilize their connection to the space, each other, and the community to expand creative freedom. This includes Gallery events (readings, film, performance, etc.), projects and collaborations, especially in the cross-disciplinary realm.



http://www.sideshowgallery.com/info/index.html



About Sideshow Gallery
Sideshow Gallery was founded by Richard Timperio in 1999 to create a space that would foster young Williamsburg artists, giving them exposure and a means to create a dialogue with the larger artists community. Timperio, an artist himself, has been an esteemed member in the Brooklyn art scene since 1979, and has been curating since 1995.

Today, Sideshow is a dynamic experimental space that actively exhibits a diverse range of art from paintings to installations, and from readings to full concerts. The lively programming not only take place within the gallery, but also on the streets of Williamsburg and beyond! The Sideshow Bass choir, in its second year, is a monthly performance of from 6 to as many as 15 upright basses directed by Todd Colburn. The Line Tamers is a series of readings organized by Jeffery Wright. Dance performances include Christopher Yeatman, Jennifer Monson, and D. D. Dorvillier.



http://blackandwhiteprojectspace.org/



Located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Black & White Project Space is a non-profit art organization committed to production, presentation and promotion of innovative and audience-engaging site-specific installations otherwise in danger of under-representation.



As exhibition spaces and artists’ studios disappear due to the building boom that has replaced so much of the neighborhood's historic fabric, our mission is to preserve and further develop the creative environment by bringing socially conscious art to a wide audience and offering substantial resources to artists shaping contemporary visual culture in the field of site-specific installations.

OUR GOAL

Our main goal is to focus on galleries and institutions that strive to nurture and maintain a strong artistic connection to the community. Through exploring these institutions we hope to highlight the active effort that is going into creating an environment in which local artistic expression and development can thrive. We hope to conduct visits to relevant sites and engage the owners or leading individuals in a dialogue that will give them the opportunity to showcase their individual efforts. From this point we intend to create a web-like image dealing with the interconnectedness of these institutions to each other and to the community at large. The project would most likely consists of a film or documentary-like piece using interviews with gallery owners and artists in conjunction with our own thoughts and explorations.

NEW start with GentrificatioN-iN-WilliamsburG

NOTES


Working with an organization, making documentary.

Get in touch with Williamsburg Art & Historic Society, Yuko Nii. Retrospective on Nii focusing on her role in establishing an artistic community connection. Interview via email or filmed in person.

Deal with her life, art, activism etc.

Touch on the institution itself, it’s goals, past projects, future endeavors etc.



Promote awareness of the institution through a simple documentary/film.



Focus on the artistic diversity and environment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, interview/explore different galleries and/or local artists. Explore the contributions they provide artistically to the community/how that encourages local interest and community care.

letter

We are a group of students studying at Parsons the New School for Design focusing on the different aspects of gentrification facing the Williamsburg, Brooklyn community. Our focus this semester has been to research and explore an issue facing a specific community on a local level.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

NEW postcards


these are more obvious that we are trying to show difference. it is going to be two world so i used two different effects for both.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

the backside of the postcard


The backside is done very simply, there will not be a great deal of text about what we are trying to get across. Too much info makes the postcard look like an advertisement.

postcard designs

The two big slogan we liked are "Never the same again" and "you are a part of this".
The postcards can be mailed out or simply posted up on walls in coffee shops and other stores making them accessible for people to take them at their leisure.

On the back of them there will be a website address to this blog so they can view the process we are working through and gain more knowledge about the topic. We hope this blog will be an extension of our work and further engage the community.





sketch book ideas


Friday, March 6, 2009

editing video

After hearing the teacher's feedback we realized there may be racial reference within our film, we also realized there may be an issue with clarity. The video was meant to be simple so that it would catch peoples attention, leave them curious and force them to delve deeper into our information.

There may be confusion because it is so out of the blue. so, we decided to put some simple text to it so the visuals make more sense.