(continued from here)
Shaw’s Supermarket was brought in as the anchor store for the Eagle Square development. As is common with large scale commercial stores, an old building was razed instead of forming an adaptive reuse strategy. With the demolition of the existing buildings, a vital piece of local community life was lost. The Olneyville Flea Market which resided in the bottom two floors and parking lot of the Fort Thunder building was an important gathering place for the immigrant neighborhood. It was a means for providing income for many locals as well as a meeting place for families and neighbors.
M.U.R.L.’s Intervention at Eagle Square
To initiate discussion, M.U.R.L.’s preliminary intervention begins with
one shipping container that establishes itself in an unused parking lot between
Shaw’s and two other buildings (one that was saved and one that has
been modified). The container opens up, poles are erected to hang canopies,
and two 16’x16’ plots are created on either side. One side functions
as an urban living room with a video projection screen, while the other is
designated as a playspace for events.
A scenario called “Interactive Urban Postcards” has been developed to collect information about the city and allow for the interaction of citizens to affect the representation of that data. Video footage and sounds of the neighborhood are gathered ahead of time and stored in a database. Over the playground, a camera with motion-tracking capabilities is suspended on cables and wired into the video-editing suite. Four participants at a time can play in the space and their changes in position and rates of motion are translated into real time manipulations of the video and sound tracks. A microphone inside the container is available for a fifth player to watch the changes and give spontaneous narration and reflection. Live projections of their performance are seen on both sides of the container, and at the end of a 60-second sequence, the resultant movie is saved as a separate video clip and logged with a time stamp. Therefore, each time the game is played, a unique video collage that describes time, place, and community is created and saved for later playback.
Once M.U.R.L. has generated material, relationships, and interest from the community, the South facade of Shaw’s Supermarket is built up with a circulation system of ramps, decks, and stair towers. While acting as a means of access to the roof space, this elevation is also important in attracting participants to the program of events. Large video displays are strategically directed towards major points of entry into Eagle Square, playing some of the compiled information about the city. Thus, the installation is presented as suggestive of activity, full of invitations, yet open to propositions from the community and ultimately a product of their own efforts.
Beginning with simple “roof tours”, M.U.R.L. begins to inhabit the roof of Shaw’s, exploring the terrain of HVAC units at the level of trees, houses, and factory windows. Viewing towers are erected as part of a new elevation of scaffolding with a giant projection screen. Further shipping containers with M.U.R.L.’s archive and facilities for recording and communication will be available for workshops, film screenings, World Cup Soccer, and other events that are of interest to the community. To encourage participation, we imagine a schedule of pre-planned events involving discussions and workshops with urban planners, thinkers, and artists. It has come to our attention that the public does not know many of the basics of how development happens in the city (issues of zoning, public/private partnerships, etc...) A weekend workshop to educate the public on these issues is one example of how this intervention could inform the public. We further propose that developers and city council people participate in some of these events so that productive feedback from the public may be taken into account. The intervention then becomes a way for citizens to have more than just a vote, but rather a voice that will be heard by those who make decisions.
As a result of the time spent in Providence, M.U.R.L.’s recommendation is to provide 10’x10’ plots on the roof of Shaw’s to reintroduce the flea market. These plots will create an open, constantly changing program that stands in direct contest with the commercial realities that surround it. Large areas of roof space will be left open for gatherings, concerts, and recreation. The anticipated result is to leave behind a public that is more informed and therefore more capable of helping the city sustain developments that maintain the vital elements of its communities.
See more images and read more about MURL here.
