WEEK 06: City Improvement Posters
My initial idea for this week was to make 7-10 different posters that had simple saying on them that would make people think. Sayings such as:
- For one minute please stand right here in silence and look up at the sky
- Missing “Chewy” (the cat)
- Tear down all the _________
- Starting is Easy, Finishing is Hard
I was planning on making 100 copies (in total) of these and placing them around the downtown core. My point behind this was to get out of my house, into the community and give something back to the community, even if just in some small way.
On Tuesday morning after a good nights sleep I decided to take this project in the same direction but with a slightly different focus.
My new focus (after being influenced by a number of things) was to not only get out into the community and give something back, but I wanted to involve the community.
With that said I posed the following questions to the community using Twitter, Facebook and this very site and hoped that “crowd sourcing” the answers would help me with this project.
The questions were:
How can we improve London, Ontario?
And/or
How do we save London?
Although these questions are approaching the same underlying theme I wanted to make sure I got a variety of responses so I attempted to reach out to both the optimists and pessimists in the city.
I collected the answers, condensed them, added some of my own and printed them out and I took to the streets and posted “100 Ways to Improve London, Ontario”. Here are the results.1
- I posted this today (Friday) instead of Monday because I was so excited about this project I just couldn’t wait to share it. [↩]
cool.
Great ideas all around. I think you should keep this idea running so that the ideas can spread and gain support. You’ve literally make happen what I’ve thought for some time now about our London. Bravo!!
this is the best project i’ve seen in ages
not the best art project
the best project
period
THIS IS AMAZING!
Saw these signs in the streets today, and couldnt wait to read them all
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by matt_thomas1: @kevinvanlierop I agree w/ @JClarkey, this creativity is inspiring.PS. nice bumping into you today http://twurl.nl/tyxk6r...
Wow, love this project, really cheered me up on my walk home from work. Thank you so much.
Haha – Awesome I love “Paint Police Cars the colour of Rainbows”, “Start Comparing To Windsor” and “Plant More Trees of the Non-Metal Variety” Love your work KVL, Love your work!!
Looked through all 100 for mine, and didnt see it
but good job kev!!!
definately agreed with 70 also!
i was interested in these as i walked to work on friday. i took the time to read as many as i saw.
an upsetting one is ‘plant more trees of the non-metal variety’.
those trees are public art, something scarce in our downtown. i agree that more trees should be planted, but the metal trees have nothing do with it. they brighten up the streets, real downtown trees look sad and are dying in the spaces they are put in.
don’t slander something that is on your side–trying to improve london.
liz: I had to condense comments, so your’s exists in the ones that are directed towards better defining what the term “transportation” means
Julia: thanks for the comments. As for the posters about the trees, what I think the comment means is that the money which was spent on the public art (which is important) might have been better spent on reclaiming some of the greenery in London. As a city who’s title is the “Forest City” we have a very low percentage of the city covered by forest/tree canopy and as such some would like to see money spent on that. As much as public art is important I think many would argue (and prove) that more trees are actually better for our health, although I am sure you can debate that.
Personally, when it comes to the metal trees I am very critical for a very specific reason.
First let me say that I think the idea of having public art trees in the downtown core is a fantastic idea, however, the manner in which the City of London and the sponsors for the project (I believe it was http://www.spriet.on.ca/ who came up with the concept) approached this initiative was not well thought out.
I think it would been far more effective and would have gained far more public support if the trees would have been art projects like those of “Bears in Vancouver”(http://www.flickr.com/photos/14403612@N00/68756582) and “Cows in Calgary” (http://corpocracy.info/udderlyart.htm) where artists were commissioned to create the art and local businesses sponsored the artists and the final product. Here in London what we ended up creating were coloured metal poles with little to no character or impact.
If more thought had of been put into this project prior to its implementation I believe it would have been received in a very different way by both residents of the city and visitors.
I’m with Kevin on the Metal Trees.
The idea of public Art is awesome, but to me its like naming a subdivision by what was there beforehand. (Good in theory but really sad)
http://denverinfill.com/blog/2006/09/guide-to-suburban-denver-subdivision.html
I also object to seeing nature being commodified and/or substituted in urban areas; metal trees are not a replacement for nature (just the same as Plastic Trees in Shopping Malls etc.)
It is the principal of the metal trees, I look at those things in London and see it as cheap, shameful and no substitute for real trees.
84 trees at $200,000 each is a LOT of money (http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/article.cfm?section=Arts&articleID=1735)
Like Public Art, real trees are beneficial and provide so much more culturally and aesthetically to an urban area (http://www.americanforests.org/graytogreen/ )
I participated in a semester long research project that looked at exactly this fact.
Conclusion: There is a big gap that needs to be filled regarding Municipal Cultural Planning and Green Infrastructure, especially in Urban Areas.
London’s Metal Trees = FAIL!
Great idea and post Kevin. Look forward to seeing what else comes from the 52 weeks project!
Delightful idea Kevin! Wish I was in London more to check these out.
[...] WEEK 06: City Improvement Posters [...]
[...] WEEK 06: City Improvement Posters [...]
Excellent, inspiring project Kevin – I love how you posted them for all to see and reflect upon.
Very creative!
Re: Metal Trees…I’m pretty sure that city money wasn’t spent on those things…it was a Mainstreet London initiative.
PS-I think they make great places to lock up my bike – that’s about it.
I will look into this and comment at a later date.
Ideas are good. Action is better…kinda how I feel about the white posters all over downtown.
Gina: I don’t think it matters where the money came from, what does matter is that whomever planned this out dropped the ball. As as for your bike comment, well wouldn’t the money be better spent on bike racks which promote healty living, less driving, and help to curb the process of sprawl? Just asking.
And I am glad you think the posters are a form of action.
I think it matters where the blame is attached. If the culprit of said ugly metal tree installation isn’t the City, then I think we can leave the guys at Dufferin Street out of it – and from what I’ve heard, that seems to be the case.
Keeping with that theme, I certainly believe that any money spent on encouraging bike use in our city would be great – but again, lets see who actually spent the money on our lovely “tree bike racks” first, before we start allocating where money should be better spent.
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