Variable City
Photographs
Performance Intersection
Fox Square Intersection
Group Performance
Exhibition Van Alen
Entry to Exhibition
Project Summary
The city changes through the constant movement of its inhabitants. The flow of physical activity, the dialogue between individuals, and the limitless intake of sound and image resonate in both daydreams and critical thinking. These variable factors impact the physical environment of the city, and through creative action contribute to its evolution. Variable City was created to explore how performance art can be used as a tool in urban planning.
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Through the intersection of two seemingly distinct disciplines, there is a unique capacity for performance art to interpret urban dynamics and engage the public in the early stages of design development. Using Research, Public Intervention and Gallery Installation, Variable City examines the impact of small-scale human activities—observation, walking, shopping, talking, and working—on large-scale, permanent changes in public space. In a first-time collaboration with urban designer, Ariel Krasnow, the project was initiated with a question: can performance art be employed as an analytical tool in an inquiry into public space? To explore the answer to this question, Fox Square, a critical, but overlooked intersection in the heart of downtown Brooklyn was selected as the site for this project.
For two years, Mandle, Krasnow, and their Urban Design Team explored a range of questions by conducting research on Fox Square: its history, current use, and prospects for future development. The Urban Design Team then interviewed pedestrians about their perceptions of the area. They discovered that the main issue undermining the area is that it had no identity—thousands passed through the busy intersection each day with little awareness of its historical significance and future potential.
Following the Research phase, a series of Public Interventions took place in Fox Square. Designed to inspire people to reconsider the site’s identity, envision potential change, and express ideas, twelve performers, dressed in vibrant orange, engaged the public through a series of actions. An informative “newspaper” was also distributed alerting people to the aims of the project as well as offering a way to respond to the issues raised. Hundreds of people paused in their daily routine to offer their enthusiastic opinions. This engagement stood in stark contrast to the Research phase when the Urban Design Team had great difficulty getting anyone in the area to stop for an interview. Of this finding Krasnow wrote, “We determined that the variable of “performance” as an acutely responsive medium can affect people’s attitudes and physical trajectories, while at the same time can cause reactions to site occurrences.”
In 2004, the Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture presented Variable City in Gallery Installations at three sites, a panel discussion, and a catalogue illustrating the project, its precedents, and overall contribution to interdisciplinary approaches in urban design and planning.
The city changes through the constant movement of its inhabitants. The flow of physical activity, the dialogue between individuals, and the limitless intake of sound and image resonate in both daydreams and critical thinking. These variable factors impact the physical environment of the city, and through creative action contribute to its evolution. Variable City was created to explore how performance art can be used as a tool in urban planning.
PAGEBREAK
Through the intersection of two seemingly distinct disciplines, there is a unique capacity for performance art to interpret urban dynamics and engage the public in the early stages of design development. Using Research, Public Intervention and Gallery Installation, Variable City examines the impact of small-scale human activities—observation, walking, shopping, talking, and working—on large-scale, permanent changes in public space. In a first-time collaboration with urban designer, Ariel Krasnow, the project was initiated with a question: can performance art be employed as an analytical tool in an inquiry into public space? To explore the answer to this question, Fox Square, a critical, but overlooked intersection in the heart of downtown Brooklyn was selected as the site for this project.
For two years, Mandle, Krasnow, and their Urban Design Team explored a range of questions by conducting research on Fox Square: its history, current use, and prospects for future development. The Urban Design Team then interviewed pedestrians about their perceptions of the area. They discovered that the main issue undermining the area is that it had no identity—thousands passed through the busy intersection each day with little awareness of its historical significance and future potential.
Following the Research phase, a series of Public Interventions took place in Fox Square. Designed to inspire people to reconsider the site’s identity, envision potential change, and express ideas, twelve performers, dressed in vibrant orange, engaged the public through a series of actions. An informative “newspaper” was also distributed alerting people to the aims of the project as well as offering a way to respond to the issues raised. Hundreds of people paused in their daily routine to offer their enthusiastic opinions. This engagement stood in stark contrast to the Research phase when the Urban Design Team had great difficulty getting anyone in the area to stop for an interview. Of this finding Krasnow wrote, “We determined that the variable of “performance” as an acutely responsive medium can affect people’s attitudes and physical trajectories, while at the same time can cause reactions to site occurrences.”
In 2004, the Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture presented Variable City in Gallery Installations at three sites, a panel discussion, and a catalogue illustrating the project, its precedents, and overall contribution to interdisciplinary approaches in urban design and planning.
Credits
Fox Square, Brooklyn, October 2003
Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture, New York, NY, October-December 2004
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Performers Beth Disharoon, Chase Granoff, LoMa Familiar, Kirsten Johansen, Andrea Johnston, Michaela Leslie-Rule, Chera Mack, Patrick Mueller, Omagbitse Omagbemi, Molly Poerstel, Lily Stillwell, Thad Wong
Urban Design Director Ariel Krasnow
Exhibition Design Bethany Koby and Sidney Blank
Choreographer Mark Jarecke
Variable City was made possible with support from the Architecture/Design Department of The National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts. The project is also made possible through funds from Jerome Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts and The Greenwall Foundation.
Generous support also was provided by Two Trees Management, BAM Local Development Corporation, Project for Public Spaces, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Brooklyn’s New York Department of City Planning, Department of Transportation, Van Alen Institute, Wolff-Olins, Two-Twelve Associates, the Stable artists, the JMP Board of Directors, and many individual donors and volunteers.
Fox Square, Brooklyn, October 2003
Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture, New York, NY, October-December 2004
PAGEBREAK
Performers Beth Disharoon, Chase Granoff, LoMa Familiar, Kirsten Johansen, Andrea Johnston, Michaela Leslie-Rule, Chera Mack, Patrick Mueller, Omagbitse Omagbemi, Molly Poerstel, Lily Stillwell, Thad Wong
Urban Design Director Ariel Krasnow
Exhibition Design Bethany Koby and Sidney Blank
Choreographer Mark Jarecke
Variable City was made possible with support from the Architecture/Design Department of The National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts. The project is also made possible through funds from Jerome Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts and The Greenwall Foundation.
Generous support also was provided by Two Trees Management, BAM Local Development Corporation, Project for Public Spaces, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Brooklyn’s New York Department of City Planning, Department of Transportation, Van Alen Institute, Wolff-Olins, Two-Twelve Associates, the Stable artists, the JMP Board of Directors, and many individual donors and volunteers.
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