A sweet French family own a little bistro tucked off a main road in Auburn, California. They cultivate the tiny strip of land between the restaurant parking lot and the road with an abundant vegetable garden. The crop goes straight to the kitchen – tasty use of public space.
pix by kp
Last week I paid a visit to an elementary school in Oakland. The man I was going to visit said: after you park, just walk straight ahead and “my door is the one without the bar on it.” Literally, all the other doors had steel bars locked in place across them. A 14 foot high chain link fence wrapped around the school perimeter, with barbed wire at the top where the the playing field bordered on a construction zone. It was unclear whether the fence was there to keep kids in or out.
Afterwards we stopped at Chevy’s, where I was surprised to see giant beer ads on the restroom doors.
pix by kp
Card catalogs still exist! This one was specifically for songs.
pix by kp
A friend of mine puts post-it notes on her blackberry.
pix by kp
The navy greets tourists at the historic dockyards in Portsmouth, UK.
pix by kp
As a part of the project Reclamation, an advertisement was placed in the magazine Metropolis M. The ad, pictured below, is a republishing of an original advertisement for the town of Metropolis, Nevada, USA. The original was first published in 1911, in the town’s promotional newspaper, the Metropolis Chronicle.
pix by kp
The headline is “A New Town Opportunity” and the text sings the praises of the newly founded Metropolis, reading: Metropolis offers the investor, builder, merchant and professional man one of the greatest business opportunities ever afforded by a western town. Lots – 25 by 125 feet – are $100 and up. Within two years, the company which had developed Metropolis fell into insolvency. More information about this curious history can be found on the project website here.
This was an advertisement for the exhibition, but was also an element of the work. Design is by Nina Støttrup Larsen with Kristin Posehn.
[pix by kp]