http://www.vimeo.com/27209882

Theaster Gates and his students talk about Gate’s summer course through Washington University in St. Louis. During the class, students worked with Gates to rehab a house in Hyde Park and devise ways in which the house can be used as an arts hub for the neighborhood.

Community projects at the Pulitzer have always raised questions of sustainability. In understanding our institution’s ever-evolving role within the community arts of St. Louis, we are a catalyst, incubator, and (at our best moments) innovator. We work to enhance the already-impressive, effective, and inspiring work of our colleagues by bringing both the strengths of a cutting-edge arts institution dedicated to promoting the personal experience with all arts and social work practice. This means, however, that we are at risk of violating one of the founding principles of community practice by parachuting into a community then exiting quickly, without sustaining commitment to the communities with whom we worked. In principle, we are keenly aware of this and have attempted to balance our institutional identity with ethical community practice by forging partnerships with institutions that have the potential to carry the innovation forward. As this department is coming upon its fourth year, we are still in the process of learning what it means to “carry the innovation forward” and just how much continued support and involvement it might take from the “catalyst”.

Take Theaster Gates in Hyde Park for example. Theaster entered this community through our project, which was a collaboration between Holy Trinity Academy and Succeeding with Reading, a program that had existed at Holy Trinity Academy for a few years preceding Urban Expression, the Pulitzer-catalyzed program inspired by our exhibition, Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark. He was captured by the community—particularly, the kids—and became committed to arts-infused community development in the neighborhood. While our exhibitions changed (and the programs with it), we were able to stay involved by co-sponsoring the CityStudioSTL (Somethingness: Ways of Seeing and Building) with the Sam Fox School of Visual Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis. In so doing, we are figuring out our institution’s role in ensuring that Theaster’s commitment to Hyde Park (through Rebuild Foundation) has a better chance at success. It’s a work in progress, but the brilliant work of Theaster, his employees, and the students of this summer class have provided another huge step toward fulfilling the potential of a beautiful, if neglected neighborhood and doing so by forging partnerships between existing community members and those from the outside. We’ll keep you posted as his work evolves.

Kathryn Adamchick, an Art/Food organizer, talks about how Art/Food relates to the work of Gordon Matta-Clark.

This is a the last week for Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark. As a special farewell to the exhibition, the Pulitzer has joined forces with Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis for a celebration of food and art on Saturday, June 5, 1-4pm, titled Art/Food.

Art/Food will offer dishes prepared from local food by local chefs from a few of St. Louis’ favorite restaurants. Organizations, such as Earthways Center and Slow Rocket Urban Farm, will talk about local food and offer interactive activities that demonstrate sustainable practices.

Admission is free, but there’s a suggested donation of five dollars, or flour, oil, and vinegar to go to St. Louis Campus Kitchen, a non-profit student organizations that feeds people in need.

For full event details, visit our event page.

Slow Rocket Urban Farm talk about their urban farm in South St. Louis. They will give a presentation on their work during Art/Food.

Here’s a shot of Robert Longyear sitting in his installation for Urban Evolution, discussing his work with visitors last Saturday. His friend Dickson Beall recorded a couple snippets of him describing working with kids at Craft Alliance, which you can view here.

This Saturday, May 29, at 1pm, Robert will continue the conversation and read his thought-provoking written piece “Seven Ten Split.” The talk will be held again at the exhibition, in the Woolworth Building (501 North Grand in Grand Center). As usual, there’s no admission fee. Just bring your curious minds and be prepared to look at bowling balls in a whole different light.

From Robert:

“We’re daring to be operatic, like maybe it’s time for us to address critically the fate of our neighborhoods – and if we’re going to be operatic about it -and if this is all about a principled response to the wider world, we all need a foundation.

Remember, there’s a bureaucracy to opposable thumbs.”

In our video recap of the Transformation Project Walk, Katy Mike Smaistrla, Education and Volunteer Coordinator at Earthways Center, explains the structure above, which a Construction Careers Center shop class built as part of their workshop with the Pulitzer, Earthways Center and the Lawrence Group. Last Thursday, the program, which was inspired by the Garbage Wall and formulated to teach sustainable design, drew to a close.

For the final session, representatives from the partnering organizations met with the students in their computer lab to discuss what was accomplished over the past few months. Everyone sat in a circle and took turns explaining what they learned. Afterwards, the class filled out surveys on the computers, as I pulled a few students out into the hallway for some digital feedback. Here is what those students had to say: Read the rest of this entry »

On May 15, the Pulitzer celebrated the culmination of Transformation with an art walk that showcased the work of each program. In the video above, visitors, participants and organizers talk about the different programs and locations for the Transformation Project Walk.

The Transformation Project Walk sites will be on view until June 5, as the Pulitzer staff prepares for a final Urban Alchemy event. Perhaps after that, we’ll have time to process the assorted layers of the T-series and all that happened during the Walk. As a Pulitzer camerawoman (we use a Flip), I try to focus on perspectives and moments that expose some of the big picture of events, some of which don’t always make it into footage. As I followed the site map on May 15, I saw a range of reactions. Here are a couple of times that stood out to me: Read the rest of this entry »

Juan William Chávez comments on Gordon Matta-Clark’s father, Roberto Matta, and one of Matta-Clark’s works in the exhibition Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark.

For May’s Frame of Reference, Juan Chávez, an artist and the director of Boots Contemporary Art Space, examined Gordon Matta-Clark’s A W-Hole House: Roof Top Atrium. As a panelist for “The City as Studio” and curator of Theaster Gates’ exhibition Dry Bones and Other Parables from the North, Juan has greatly contributed to Pulitzer activities in the last few months. You can read his post on the Urban Expression blog, which explains what he thinks of “the power of art.”

Frame of Reference is a series of in-gallery discussions on the first Saturday of every month. The Pulitzer tailors each set of speakers to engage visitors in conversation and to provide a range of perspectives on the art being displayed. The last Frame of Reference for Urban Alchemy will be June 5.

As we’ve said before, part of the Pulitzer’s identity is that it doesn’t have labels for the artwork, however for the next three weeks, the Ando building will boldly declare its address in neon, as part of 2010 Whitney Biennial winner Theaster Gates’ exhibition Dry Bones and Other Parables from the North.

Dry Bones will open this Saturday along with three projects during the Transformation Project Walk. In case you haven’t been reading the news or listening to St. Louis Public Radio, the Walk will be a big bash that concludes all of the community programming we’ve worked on throughout the Matta-Clark exhibition. Similar in scope to The Light Project, the Walk will be one of those special events that encourages all of St. Louis to explore the Grand Center neighborhood and experience each unique project site.

This Saturday, May 15, from 3-7pm, the Pulitzer will provide a shuttle and trolley service to those who want to see what Transformation has accomplished this spring. Each stop will exhibit inspired works by program participants, which are sure to demonstrate how art can affect social change and further conversation on the St. Louis urban landscape. For a full description of the event and programs, visit this page.

Robert Longyear talks about the chairs in his installation and how they relate to the theme of “congregation.” Like Gordon Matta-Clark, who used titles like “A W-Hole House” and “Reality Properties / Fake Estates,” Robert also incorporates word play into his artwork. For more information on his project visit the Urban Evolution blog.

Panelist Paul Ha, Director of Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, explains his relationship with Food and that food and art have always gone together.

If you’ve been paying attention to our Transformation site, you know that tomorrow the Pulitzer is hosting “Food, Art, and Community,” its final panel discussion in the series fired by Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark. This week’s topic relates to Gordon Matta-Clark’s fondness for using cooking in his artwork and the legendary Food of 1970s SoHo . Panelists will discuss how combining art and food movements can lead to social progress. You can RSVP to this event on Facebook.

A still from Gordon Matta-Clark’s film Food, which documents Food, the restaurant in SoHo Matta-Clark operated with fellow artists.

Everybody eats (See Sesame Street clip, ca. 1970s), and, as we should know by now, the way we get and eat food fundamentally defines our way of life. Drive-thru windows. Pre-packaged food. Devotion to convenience in the United States leaves cooking as a hobby rather than a part of being human.

Next Thursday evening, the Pulitzer will present “Food, Art, and Community,” its final panel discussion in the series fired by Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark. Panelists will talk about offsetting disengagement with what we gobble and how blending art with urban farming, farmers’ markets and food has the potential to strengthen whole communities. This topic was inspired by Gordon Matta-Clark’s use of cooking in his artwork and the artist-owned/run restaurant Food, which offered a “perpetual dinner party” to SoHo in the early 1970s.

This week, Rachel and I decided to highlight an example of art and food fostering fellowship in St. Louis by interviewing a founder of Sloup, a monthly soup dinner that donates its proceeds to artistic ventures. Below is my interview with Amelia Jones.
What is Sloup exactly? What is the rationale behind it?

Sloup is a monthly soup dinner that funds artists’ grants in greater St Louis. The idea is that it doesn’t take a super large amount of funding to bring art projects to fruition.

Read the rest of this entry »

Construction Careers Center students examine Gordon Matta-Clark’s Reality Properties: Fake Estates. For more photos from this program visit our Flickr page.

Tuesday morning, students from a Construction Careers Center shop class toured Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark for the first time. They have been hearing about the exhibition for months. Last fall, while requesting garbage donations, Jenny Murphy and Lisa Harper Chang visited CCC, a construction-focused charter school, to talk about Gordon Matta-Clark’s work and sustainable design. Jane Crawford made a special appearance at the school during the week the Wall was constructed.

In early February of this year, the Pulitzer, along with the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Earthways Center and the Lawrence Group, began the current program. Representatives from each organization and a teaching artist have been meeting with the class for lessons on community building, sustainability and design. The students are planning with their teacher to eventually build their own version of the Garbage Wall.

Faydreauna, a student at Construction Careers Center, shares her observations on Garbage Wall.