121

Arte Útil archive nr:

121

Initiator:

Fieldfaring

Location:

US

Category:

pedagogical, economy, social

Users:

Adrian Rivas, Hugo Hopping and art students of KRABBESHOLM HØJSKOLE in Skive, Denmark, Luis Hernández, Mark Sanderson (art collector), Pilar Tompkins, York Chang, Fernando Cruz, Gronk, James Rojas (urban planner), York Chang,

Maintained by:

Fieldfaring

Certification:

implemented

Duration:

2004-2007

Fieldfaring
-
Temescal Amity Works

Description:

They developed two interlocking programs, The Big Back Yard and Reading Room.
“The Big Backyard was based around a hand-built, steel pushcart that we made to collect surplus fruits and vegetables from neighborhood yards, which we gave away fresh or re-distributed in the forms of collective marmalades and fruit butters (…)The Reading Room, located at an storefront space, contextualized the ongoing experience of the Big Backyard through casual contact during open hours, as well as through a series of public events, film screenings and a small resource library. We also invited local artists, historians and others to create projects that overlaid themselves onto Temescal Amity Works in a productive and complicated way, making available our space and resources, including modest re-distributions of our funding.”

Goals:

“to be a social sculpture that also drew upon historical models of mutual-aid societies, barn-raisings, DIY collectives and urban communism. They were interested in how a specific community built relationships through personal and casual economies.”

Beneficial Outcomes:

The residents got the surplus fruits and vegetables in a new re-usable form and they learnt about different posibilities of re-use food and sharing.

Images: