When art is ephemeral, collectors often turn to conservators to "delay the corrosive effects of time on their artworks." But what if time means growth, rather than decay? Take, for example, the living terrariums of Paula Hayes, who tends to her creations through weekly visits to collectors' homes after they are sold. nytimes
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let someone else pay for upkeep, and after our civilization is gone, i won't care about it anymore.
so yeah, i've thought about this too.
consider u.n. plaza and i thiknk another one or two halprins, already considered extraneous.
http://www.google.com/search?q=halprin+u.n.+plaza
... so do you agree with halprin that it's a "social problem, not an art problem," or do you think it's due to neglect of maintenance ... or do you think there is something fundamentally wrong with the design that fuels the social problems?
(as for paula's terrariums, at the object/sculpture scale, it's a very unique relationship between artist and patron -- and even though it reflects larger landscape maintenance questions ... here the artist-comes-with-the-work is very tender & intimate thing).
i had to check photos to be sure i had a chance to see this. i have walked by it, but never noticed a fountain! there are usually a lot of fake(?) steetpeople, but theres' no problem walking around.
this area is spacey. the side areas are bare and desolate. a lot of gray empty breezey parking lots. gray buildings. like the offscreen areas of a studio set. the rows of trees are kept clubbed to horrifying looking stubs (arboriste de sade?)
so maybe halprin is at least partially correct in that the surrounding area dooms anything where the fountain or plaza are located.
also, instead of blaming halprin et al's design, the other perspective is that this plaza/promenade is what has allowed some kind of inhabitance, where none would otherwise occur.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?m=/c/pictures/2003/04/18/ba_unplaza04.jpg&f=/c/a/2003/04/18/BA84774.DTL
http://www.pps.org/info/newsletter/september2004/september2004_best_worst
http://www.sfcall.com/issues%202001/6.11.01/undoing_un_plaza.htm
from design view:
http://www.tclf.org/features/un_plaza/un_plaza_2.htm
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