The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

URBAN INTERVENTIONS

Parsons The New School for Design
OPEN CLASSROOM EVENT

Date/Time: Monday, April 27, 9-11:40am
Location: 2 West 13th Street, Room 307

In this studio, students will investigate possibilities of using the means and methods of public art, street art, urban play and civic activism in order to reframe and critique contemporary notion of urban revitalization and urban beautification. Three basic methods will be used to explore these ideas.

1. Low budget Public sculpture
2. Street Theater /performance
3. Pamphleteering or print intervention

The site for student work will be 14th Street between First and Sixth Avenues. Our studio partner will be the Union Square Partnership, a community-based, not-for-profit organization that has been a catalyst behind the neighborhood's transition. Students will address issues of community participation, communication, economies of scale, the impact and meaning of messages in the public sphere, particularly in the context of multiple and often alienated audiences. Through both research and art/design responses, student will develop a critical understanding of the visual landscape and roles that social imaginary plays in the complex processes of urban transformation. Students will develop their proposals to a final stage, ready for implementation. Our partner may implement some projects.