Hello Everyone!
So in this post I will be sharing with you my two initial project proposals for my memorial pieces! This will approach and elaborate on the concept, description, site analysis and visual representations of the ideas. Let’s Begin! (I also have physical 8.5″x 14″ print-out copies I will be bringing with me to classes of everything that will be discussed in this post).
Project Proposal #1:
Concept: This memorial is about the “silver factory” that has been demolished since 1967. The “silver factory” was the original and iconic factory of Andy Warhol where silkscreens, paintings, movies, superstars, and social outcasts, were brought to light and glamorized.
Description: As I have researched much about the life of Andy Warhol throughout my years; it led me to wonder if his factory was remembered in any way near the sites of his three focal locations for the center… yet then again- the factory was also more of a culture and way of life in its own right. The Decker Building at 33 Union Square West (Andy’s second move) has documented history alongside it. On a street corner of Union Square’s 17th Street and Broadway, is a silver exhibition of Andy himself staring into the distance with a paper bag. His last factory on 860 Broadway is practically near the same area, so the pre-existing monument doubles its impact. Yet, here lies this abandoned concrete parking lot out in the middle of midtown on 231 East 47th Street (where the majority of the real factory was birthed), and it fails to claim any recognition for such a historical spot. That is why there needs to be something; maybe less literal though. My project is fairly simple and will only require silver pillow-shaped balloons with string. Each year that goes by calculated up to now and beyond, I would have a temporary installation of silver balloons in honor of the base factory’s birthday; the balloons would be stringed together and knotted to tree branches for a day just before the balloons are untied to be released into the air in memoriam the next morning. (This relates to the actual factory that once sat there- it was completely silver; known for its high life parties (as well as profiles), and the art created there reflected the times in such literal ways (ie: Brillo Box). I think that this factory deserves to have a ghost.. just as the others; only more so.
Site Analysis: This memorial will be tied or stringed and knotted to the surrounding trees in the small garden/park area connected right next to the concrete parking lot. This will engage with the space by appearing more ghostly due to being attached to the trees in a subtle way. As people are sitting in this space, they would notice the faint yet stark presence of these balloons and how they reflect the times-just as Warhol’s “Pop Art” did.
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Project Proposal #2:
Concept: This memorial is made in honor of the twenty-one elephants who marched across the Brooklyn Bridge back in 1884 to prove safety of the structure. This was led by Showman: P.T. Barnum and made headlines when it occurred.
Description: Although it is an incredible and on the same token saddening picture to imagine; this spectacle and miracle of an event has zero memoriam assigned to it. My idea was to create the Brooklyn Bridge out of wire and weave twenty-one elephants throughout it with wire as well. This would of course be situated in or on the Brooklyn Bridge. It is also a grim reminder of how society continues to use animals for their convenience… for example; at the time this idea was introduced to the city, the bridges’ safety was in serious question after an obscure woman fell on the side stairs of the bridge near Manhattan- which in turn killed twelve people as a result of the fall.
Site Analysis: The memorial would be situated inside and along the Brooklyn Bridges’ webbed, steel cable truss. Twenty-one elephants would basically be woven through it. The audience whether they walk alongside or drive across the bridge; in their sight they would be able to view a subtle yet daunting memorial of the twenty-one elephants whose lives were risked in the making and safety ensurement of this structure.
