Sunday, September 11, 2011
Rights and Reproductions
I am working on figuring out the reproduction rights for the RIHS materials, which will affect how many of the interesting things I have come across I can share on this blog. However, in the meantime, here is an image from the wonderful world of Wikimedia Commons. It shows the interior of the Arcade in 2005, and can be seen in higher resolution here.
Archival reflections: scale
Judging by the number of prints and photographs of the Arcade in the RIHS collection, it has been a favourite subject of artists and photographers since its construction. There are also some lovely insights to what the surrounding area looked like at earlier stages in the Arcade's history in the files on Westminster and Weybosset streets. What comes across most strongly in the earlier prints and photographs for me is the monumentality of the Arcade. This must have been a huge part of the experience of the building for those depicting it. It stands out as larger than the surrounding buildings, with the huge architectural elements on a non-human scale contrasted with the small figures on its steps, or on the street in front of the building.
Today the effect is quite different. Standing at the intersection of Westminster and Weybosset looking down Westminster, it takes me a minute to pick out the Arcade. It is dwarfed by the twentieth century skyscrapers that grew up around it, especially by the 1913 Turk's Head Building that towers up in sharp perspective from the intersection. Comparing this view with a photograph of the same intersection from before this area was built up (the photograph from the RIHS place files is undated- I am working of getting a date for it) is disorienting. The experience of the Arcade is entirely changed by this contextual alteration.
This was on my mind whilst leafing through the copious images in the place files. I had to be selective in choosing which images to have photographed for me because there are a huge number relevant to the Arcade and photocopies are $0.50/sheet. In making these choices, I am selecting and collecting an Arcade archive of my own to represent the larger holdings of the RIHS, and these will be the images that I share with the dancers. My choices will ultimately affect and direct their engagements with and insights into the site.
Today the effect is quite different. Standing at the intersection of Westminster and Weybosset looking down Westminster, it takes me a minute to pick out the Arcade. It is dwarfed by the twentieth century skyscrapers that grew up around it, especially by the 1913 Turk's Head Building that towers up in sharp perspective from the intersection. Comparing this view with a photograph of the same intersection from before this area was built up (the photograph from the RIHS place files is undated- I am working of getting a date for it) is disorienting. The experience of the Arcade is entirely changed by this contextual alteration.
This was on my mind whilst leafing through the copious images in the place files. I had to be selective in choosing which images to have photographed for me because there are a huge number relevant to the Arcade and photocopies are $0.50/sheet. In making these choices, I am selecting and collecting an Arcade archive of my own to represent the larger holdings of the RIHS, and these will be the images that I share with the dancers. My choices will ultimately affect and direct their engagements with and insights into the site.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Archival reflections: historical narratives
This week I have spent time visiting the archives in order to see how the Arcade is represented in the archives, and to gain some insights into the building's history. The Rhode Island Historical Society Library was my starting point, and their extensive holdings included a lot of photographs, prints, and articles about the Arcade. The historical significance of the Arcade is reflected in the amount of materials related to it that are available. The research process for a site like this is very different from my last forray into the archives, where I was searching for information about a rather obscure and underdocumented site. To be so quickly presented with so many materials concerning the Arcade raises for me questions about the significance and symbolism of the site. The place files at the RIHS Library contain scores of images and clippings related to the building, alluding to the consciousness with which the Arcade was documented and archived, and points to the identification of the Arcade as historic and important in Providence's history.
Thus far (and my archival endeavours are only in their early stages), a narrative of monumentality and exceptionalism seems to surround the Arcade. Descriptions of the Arcade repeatedly reference things such as the fact that the design was based on that of the Church of the Madeleine in Paris (a highly exulted architectural specimen of Europe), that it was the largest indoor shopping mall in the United States at the time it was built, or that it outlasted almost all the other covered arcades in the United States. One example of this rhetoric is found in J. C. Thompson's 1876 Illustrated Hand -Book of Providence, which describes the Arcade as "a granite building if fine proportions, and superior at the time of its erection to any thing of the kind in the country" (page 84). Sources also repeatedly mention the impressive story of the Arcade's columns: they are monolithic, built of stone from Bear Rock Ledge quarry in Johnstone, RI, each weigh 12 tonnes, and were dragged to Providence by a team of 12-15 oxen one at a time (The Providence News, a daily that ran 1918-1929, notes that the beasts of burden were "specially picked oxen imported from Western New York State"). Also repeatedly referenced is the speed with which the columns were created, moved and set in place, and the incredible feat that was accomplished by doing so. Whilst there is no doubt that the task was a challenging one and well accomplished, it is interesting to note that the narrative of achievement, celebration and progress, seems to dominate the presence of the Arcade in the archive so far. This narrative romanticises many aspects of the Arcade's existence, and contains under- and overtones of not only civic pride, but also national patriotism.
To quote the closing paragraph from the Providence News article as one example of this,
Thus far (and my archival endeavours are only in their early stages), a narrative of monumentality and exceptionalism seems to surround the Arcade. Descriptions of the Arcade repeatedly reference things such as the fact that the design was based on that of the Church of the Madeleine in Paris (a highly exulted architectural specimen of Europe), that it was the largest indoor shopping mall in the United States at the time it was built, or that it outlasted almost all the other covered arcades in the United States. One example of this rhetoric is found in J. C. Thompson's 1876 Illustrated Hand -Book of Providence, which describes the Arcade as "a granite building if fine proportions, and superior at the time of its erection to any thing of the kind in the country" (page 84). Sources also repeatedly mention the impressive story of the Arcade's columns: they are monolithic, built of stone from Bear Rock Ledge quarry in Johnstone, RI, each weigh 12 tonnes, and were dragged to Providence by a team of 12-15 oxen one at a time (The Providence News, a daily that ran 1918-1929, notes that the beasts of burden were "specially picked oxen imported from Western New York State"). Also repeatedly referenced is the speed with which the columns were created, moved and set in place, and the incredible feat that was accomplished by doing so. Whilst there is no doubt that the task was a challenging one and well accomplished, it is interesting to note that the narrative of achievement, celebration and progress, seems to dominate the presence of the Arcade in the archive so far. This narrative romanticises many aspects of the Arcade's existence, and contains under- and overtones of not only civic pride, but also national patriotism.
To quote the closing paragraph from the Providence News article as one example of this,
The Arcade is not only one of the sights and charms of our city but is a memorial and testimony of the foresight, broadmindedness and public spirit of our citizens of a century ago. They dared to risk their money on a radically new and unusual contribution to American civic architecture and in their faith, they built firmly a structure able to withstand the ravages and changes of time.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Logistics
It is easy to get swept up in the excitement of thinking about the ideas I want to explore with this project, the process of conducting the archival research, starting to work with the dancers, creating material. But before I can launch myself into that, I have had to research the ownership of the Arcade in order to establish what access I can have to the site.
I started my initial research just over a month ago, and have since then established the ownership of the Arcade, but have not been successful in getting in touch with the owners. The Westminster Arcade is owned by Granoff Associates, a real estate management company who also own the lot adjacent to the Arcade towards the river. This lot is the site of the infamous “Weybosset façade”, which remains standing after the demolition of the Providence National Bank Building (the 1940s facade was saved after protests at its demolition, and was intended to be incorporated into the new structure on the site- the residential tower that was never built). The Westminster Arcade has its controversial side too with evicted tenants, and financial struggles, and both the Arcade and the Weybosset facade have been the focus of activities intended to highlight the failure of the development plans.
I was aware of these histories before entering into this project. Indeed, the debates over the use of the Arcade, and its current derelict state contrasted with its celebrated history were part of what drew me to the building. But despite my desire to engage with questions of abandonment, change, and memory, I do not approach this project with a desire to highlight the controversial and political nature of the site or subversive ends. The controversy over the site is relevant to my project, but is not the motivation.
Suffice to say that these are contested spaces, and the ownership of the sites is part of the politics of development and land use in 21st century Providence, a fact which does not bode well for my interest in gaining access to the Arcade for this project. And sure enough, one research-filled month, numerous unanswered phone messages, and one unsuccessful in-person visit later, I have not been able to talk to the Arcade’s property representative, Lisa Marrocco (she has represented the property since at least 2005, before the name of Granoff Associates was directly linked to the Arcade). While this is perhaps not surprising, it is nevertheless frustrating, and I am left contemplating the next steps of the project in light of not being able to have a conversation with the owners. It is partially a question of access. The interior of the Arcade is inaccessible because it is chained shut, but the portico area is open to the street and is accessible. Nevertheless, it is private property and using the space in an unauthorised way could elicit a reaction from the owners. Additionally, as Lisa Marrocco has represented the property for so many years, I would be interested to talk to her about her perceptions of the site and gain an insight into the business of managing the property.
I started my initial research just over a month ago, and have since then established the ownership of the Arcade, but have not been successful in getting in touch with the owners. The Westminster Arcade is owned by Granoff Associates, a real estate management company who also own the lot adjacent to the Arcade towards the river. This lot is the site of the infamous “Weybosset façade”, which remains standing after the demolition of the Providence National Bank Building (the 1940s facade was saved after protests at its demolition, and was intended to be incorporated into the new structure on the site- the residential tower that was never built). The Westminster Arcade has its controversial side too with evicted tenants, and financial struggles, and both the Arcade and the Weybosset facade have been the focus of activities intended to highlight the failure of the development plans.
I was aware of these histories before entering into this project. Indeed, the debates over the use of the Arcade, and its current derelict state contrasted with its celebrated history were part of what drew me to the building. But despite my desire to engage with questions of abandonment, change, and memory, I do not approach this project with a desire to highlight the controversial and political nature of the site or subversive ends. The controversy over the site is relevant to my project, but is not the motivation.
Suffice to say that these are contested spaces, and the ownership of the sites is part of the politics of development and land use in 21st century Providence, a fact which does not bode well for my interest in gaining access to the Arcade for this project. And sure enough, one research-filled month, numerous unanswered phone messages, and one unsuccessful in-person visit later, I have not been able to talk to the Arcade’s property representative, Lisa Marrocco (she has represented the property since at least 2005, before the name of Granoff Associates was directly linked to the Arcade). While this is perhaps not surprising, it is nevertheless frustrating, and I am left contemplating the next steps of the project in light of not being able to have a conversation with the owners. It is partially a question of access. The interior of the Arcade is inaccessible because it is chained shut, but the portico area is open to the street and is accessible. Nevertheless, it is private property and using the space in an unauthorised way could elicit a reaction from the owners. Additionally, as Lisa Marrocco has represented the property for so many years, I would be interested to talk to her about her perceptions of the site and gain an insight into the business of managing the property.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Historic recognition
The Arcade was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and is assigned National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 71000029. It was also included in the Historic American Buildings Survey, the documents of which are located in the Library of Congress. Luckily, the Arcade's records are among those to have been digitised, with two black and white photographs from 1958 (below, but can be seen at higher resolution by following the link above), and 5 data pages on the building's history compiled in 1962.
Southeast facade on Weybosset Street, April 1958. Photographer: Laurence E. Tilley. Historic American Buildings Survey, Library Of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D. C.
Interior of the Arcade, April 1958. Photographer: Laurence E. Tilley. Historic American Buildings Survey, Library Of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D. C.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Plan of action
In my first post I wrote that,
The initial steps are to research the building’s ownership, current status, etc., and to establish contact with relevant parties so I can make this project happen. Next, archival research. What materials exist relating to the building’s past? What picture does the archive paint of the building and its place in Providence’s history? What (his)stories does the archive suggest? I plan to complement the archival research with interviews conducted with people who have experienced the Arcade at various points in time. My hope is to gain an insight into the perceptions and memories of the Arcade that people hold today. This collection of research materials from the historical archives, the interviews, and my own photo and video documentation will then be used to generate the movement content of the piece in collaboration with the dancers.
I am interested in using dance performance to (re)present urban spaces (specifically unused, abandoned, or ‘forgotten’ spaces) in unexpected ways. In doing so, my hope is to encourage and facilitate different ways of understanding the pasts and presents of the sites, and to raise question about the changes of the materiality and meanings of sites over time.But just how am I planning to go about doing this? Here are my current thoughts on this question:
The initial steps are to research the building’s ownership, current status, etc., and to establish contact with relevant parties so I can make this project happen. Next, archival research. What materials exist relating to the building’s past? What picture does the archive paint of the building and its place in Providence’s history? What (his)stories does the archive suggest? I plan to complement the archival research with interviews conducted with people who have experienced the Arcade at various points in time. My hope is to gain an insight into the perceptions and memories of the Arcade that people hold today. This collection of research materials from the historical archives, the interviews, and my own photo and video documentation will then be used to generate the movement content of the piece in collaboration with the dancers.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Some key ideas
I want to lay out a few of the ideas running around in my head as I embark on this project, and that I consider key in my approach to this site-specific work:
The material and non-material: The interplay between the material and the non-material is important for what I am trying to explore. I use “material” to refer to the materiality of the site—the stuff, objects, buildings, things, physical components that make up the site. I use “non-material” to refer to more abstract aspects of the site, such as its meaning, symbolic importance, emotional effect, imaginative potential. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive; the relationship between them is multi-faceted, complex, and unstable.
Presences and absences: How has the materiality of the site changed? What is present that used to be absent? Absent that used to present? I am interested in exploring past presences and present absences on both a material and non-material level.
Place: Considering place as distinct from space- whereas space is abstract and rational, place is subjective, it has value invested in it, it is lived in. Considering place as something that is created through movement and embodied practices (“embodied practice” is used here quite literally, to refer to practices of the [human] body). The concept of place that I am employing is drawn from ideas of space and place explored by thinkers such as Edward Casey and Yi-Fu Tuan.
For Casey in particular, the body plays a pivotal role in our experience of place; he writes that, the body
Memory: What is the relationship of memory to the material site? To material presences and absences? What role do memories of the site play in its present identities? How do others’ memories of the site inform and change our understandings of the site?
Non-linear time: Considering the ways in which the pasts of the site (material and non-material) are present through our engagements with them (as William Faulker wrote in Requiem for a Nun, “the past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past”). Considering the role of memory in blurring the conception of time as linear, where time is an absolute entity that progresses from past to present to future.
Dance: Approaching the idea of dance as kinetic, embodied exploration of and engagement with what it means to be human.
Site-specific dance: Approaching the site-specific dance as a kinetic, embodied exploration of and engagement with what it means to be human in a place.
Flux: I like to subscribe to the idea that places are not static; they are constantly changing. This can apply both on the material and non-material level, with the instability of the meanings, conceptions, and perceptions of places existing in a complex interplay with the material changes occurring at a site.
Performance and performativity: Considering the creation of urban space as a performative act- designating certain sites as historic, or off-limits, or endangered are some examples of performative acts that shape and define urban spaces and the way that people use and think about them. If we consider city-making as a performance, what happens when a performance in the more conventional sense (i.e. a performing arts event) is inserted into this performative space?
1 Casey, Edward S. 2000. “Body, Self, and Landscape: A Geophilosophical Inquiry into the Place-World.” In Textures of Place: Exploring humanist geographies, edited by Paul C. Adams, Stephen Hoelscher and Karen E. Till, 403-425. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 414.
The material and non-material: The interplay between the material and the non-material is important for what I am trying to explore. I use “material” to refer to the materiality of the site—the stuff, objects, buildings, things, physical components that make up the site. I use “non-material” to refer to more abstract aspects of the site, such as its meaning, symbolic importance, emotional effect, imaginative potential. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive; the relationship between them is multi-faceted, complex, and unstable.
Presences and absences: How has the materiality of the site changed? What is present that used to be absent? Absent that used to present? I am interested in exploring past presences and present absences on both a material and non-material level.
Place: Considering place as distinct from space- whereas space is abstract and rational, place is subjective, it has value invested in it, it is lived in. Considering place as something that is created through movement and embodied practices (“embodied practice” is used here quite literally, to refer to practices of the [human] body). The concept of place that I am employing is drawn from ideas of space and place explored by thinkers such as Edward Casey and Yi-Fu Tuan.
For Casey in particular, the body plays a pivotal role in our experience of place; he writes that, the body
bears the traces of the places it has known. These traces are continually laid down in the body, being sedimented there, and thus becoming formative of its specific somatography...placial incorporation.1Places stay with us, are embedded in us, and this process is reciprocal.
Memory: What is the relationship of memory to the material site? To material presences and absences? What role do memories of the site play in its present identities? How do others’ memories of the site inform and change our understandings of the site?
Non-linear time: Considering the ways in which the pasts of the site (material and non-material) are present through our engagements with them (as William Faulker wrote in Requiem for a Nun, “the past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past”). Considering the role of memory in blurring the conception of time as linear, where time is an absolute entity that progresses from past to present to future.
Dance: Approaching the idea of dance as kinetic, embodied exploration of and engagement with what it means to be human.
Site-specific dance: Approaching the site-specific dance as a kinetic, embodied exploration of and engagement with what it means to be human in a place.
Flux: I like to subscribe to the idea that places are not static; they are constantly changing. This can apply both on the material and non-material level, with the instability of the meanings, conceptions, and perceptions of places existing in a complex interplay with the material changes occurring at a site.
Performance and performativity: Considering the creation of urban space as a performative act- designating certain sites as historic, or off-limits, or endangered are some examples of performative acts that shape and define urban spaces and the way that people use and think about them. If we consider city-making as a performance, what happens when a performance in the more conventional sense (i.e. a performing arts event) is inserted into this performative space?
1 Casey, Edward S. 2000. “Body, Self, and Landscape: A Geophilosophical Inquiry into the Place-World.” In Textures of Place: Exploring humanist geographies, edited by Paul C. Adams, Stephen Hoelscher and Karen E. Till, 403-425. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 414.
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