Check out FPAC interview with Fort Point artists: Karen Stein, Ben
Gaydos and Matthew Shanley. Their temporary public art
work, "We Will Imagine" will be installed this October for Open Studios.
FPAC: How did you decide to apply to the FPAC public art works call for artists? Have you done other public art projects before?
KBM: We all live and/or spend large amounts of time in the Fort Point area, engaging daily with its beauty and imperfections. It felt natural to want to make a mark on these surfaces. These two locations in particular seemed both crucially important to daily life, yet also lacking in brightness and spirit. We wanted to draw them out from their current existence, inviting people to see them for what they are and what they could be. By extension, we examine the entire neighborhood—what it is and what it could be.
The goodgood part of the crew (Karen and Ben) created a lighting installation on Congress Street this past winter for FPAC’s Winter Solstice series.
FPAC: What was the inspiration for your public art project?
KBM: We are quite interested in engaging communities through art and design. We try to find ways of using language and typography to pose questions and encourage discourse in our visual landscape.
FPAC: What role do you believe artists are responsible for portraying to the public regarding economic, aesthetic, environmental and social issues?
KBM: Is this a roundabout way of asking what’s going to happen to all this tape once the artwork comes down? Because we’re trying to come up with a good solution…(We are contacting local sculptors and fashion designers to see if they are interested in the remnants.)
Seriously though, artists are responsible to each of these issues and countless more. The creation of art is an act of questioning. Art can be about concrete notions and it can be about elusive emotions, but in our practice and creation there is always question and wonder.
FPAC: How do you think public art works temporary or permanent should be introduced to the community?.... often the dialogue is the most important relationship that needs to be considered? How have you created a dialogue with your work?
KBM: Ideally public art works are part of a much broader discussion, perhaps serving as a catalyst. In one sense, this work is very directly a dialog. A question called out from one side is answered by the other. But we hope that there is another level of dialog as well. We are thinking deeply about our neighborhood and community, and hope that this display invokes discussion amongst viewers on these issues.
FPAC: Do you think temporary works have a different impact on the viewer and how? How did take this into consideration regarding your work?
KBM: They certainly do. A permanent piece needs to be appealing and timeless. A temporary piece on the other hand can provoke. It can bring up tough questions, and those questions can be pertinent to that moment. Perhaps the question will no longer hold the same relevance ten years down the road, but in this time and place it is on our minds.
A temporary work can also address the ever-present sense of change in the world around us. Our neighborhoods are shifting and evolving, we are facing new challenges every day and our art needs to address this.
FPAC: The shift from "plop art", or public art work that has been just placed without taking consideration the surroundings, to site specific work has been a big change in the art world over the last 20/30 years, how did you decide the site for your work?
KBM: Both of these sites scream out for attention. Between and surrounding the fence and bridge are incredible examples of the architecture of the Fort Point, steeped in history and artistry. Neither the fence nor the bridge reflect this beauty.
We wanted to liven up these places. But we wanted to work with them and enhance them, not simply cover them over. And, we wanted to create a dialogue with the neighborhood. With the fence in particular that structure was paramount in determining the form of our creation.
The words took shape through the process of weaving the text through the fence. The fence and the material play off each other and feed into one another.
FPAC: Where did you get all of the material used for your public art work?
KBM: The magical world of the internet brought us boxes full of tape in all sorts of colors and shapes.
FPAC: how is your project being funded?
KBM: The Fort Point Arts Community applied for and received funding for the public art series from The Fund for The Arts, a public program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible by generous support from anonymous donors. Without this, the installation would not have been possible.
FPAC: How much did color and material play a role in your work?
KBM: To a large degree, the work is material color. The brightness of the tape enlivens these drab urban surfaces. The material of the site led directly to the form of the installation. The shape of the letter forms woven into the A Street fence are defined by the pattern of chain link.
FPAC: When will the final project be installed?
KBM: We’ll be installing along the A Street fence the last weekend in September. The piece along the Summer Street overpass might come slightly later, depending on getting final permission.
FPAC: How long have you lived in the Fort Point Channel?
KBM: Karen has lived here going on 2 years, and has worked here for more than 5 years. Ben has been working here for 2 years, and Matt going on one year. We are new-comers indeed, but we are also very passionate about this community, believing it is all our role to maintain the artistic fabric which already exists.
FPAC: Who or what are your biggest influences on your work?
KBM: Jim Henson, David Bowie, and the natural world. Stefan Sagmeister and Jenny Holzer, too.
FPAC: What can we look forward to in the future from you?
KBM: Many good[good] things.
FPAC: What role did each of you have in this project?
KBM: We’ve all collaborated on the entire project from conception to creation. The great thing about this project has been the way we’ve been able to work together as a group without worrying about defining roles.
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