Dear St. Louis - Sincerely St. Louis

Regional Arts Commission

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Project Details
Size
Year
2020
Location
St. Louis, MO
Collaborators
Honors

InSITE 2020 Finalist

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Project Summary

In our proposal for InSITE 2020, Dear St. Louis / Sincerely, St. Louis, we envision a type of community generated letter both to and from the people of this city, located on the southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis. 

Despite heavy pedestrian traffic along the City Garden walkway, this movement does not continue into the Serra Park, because the walkway transitions into a narrower standard sidewalk. However, a brief row of trees creates a footprint for where a broader promenade might continue. We propose to install a new pedestrian friendly fine-gravel walkway, within which we compose a field of colorful super-text based on the statements we collected.

Over time, as people move across the site, the colorful super-text will blend into the surrounding gravel, shifting from discreet words and meaning to a palimpsest of diffuse color and aura. How can an artwork change the way people move through the landscape? Can public art act as a conduit for understanding a place more deeply? Through this project, we hope to create more than an object¬–we aim to create an opportunity, for the public and the civic landscape itself, to respond to each other in an earnest and poetic way. 

We set up an installation for Park(ing) Day as a way to engage and gather thoughts, comments, and statements from the St. Louis community, about the St. Louis community. 

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Documentation
Rendering of people walking around the exterior southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio.
In our proposal for InSITE 2020, Dear St. Louis / Sincerely, St. Louis, we envision a type of community generated letter both to and from the people of this city, located on the southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis. 
Overhead aerial rendering of the proposed Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio.
We propose to install a new pedestrian friendly fine-gravel walkway, within which we compose a field of colorful super-text based on the statements we collected.
Diagram of proposed gravel design at Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio.
Over time, as people move across the site, the colorful super-text will blend into the surrounding gravel, shifting from discreet words and meaning to a palimpsest of diffuse color and aura. How can an artwork change the way people move through the landscape?
Autumn rendering of people walking around the exterior southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio.

Dear St. Louis - Sincerely St. Louis

Regional Arts Commission

Location

St. Louis, MO

Size

Services

Public Art

Landscape Architecture

Streetscape Design

Completion

2020

Collaborators
Honors & Awards

InSITE 2020 Finalist

In our proposal for InSITE 2020, Dear St. Louis / Sincerely, St. Louis, we envision a type of community generated letter both to and from the people of this city, located on the southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis. 

Despite heavy pedestrian traffic along the City Garden walkway, this movement does not continue into the Serra Park, because the walkway transitions into a narrower standard sidewalk. However, a brief row of trees creates a footprint for where a broader promenade might continue. We propose to install a new pedestrian friendly fine-gravel walkway, within which we compose a field of colorful super-text based on the statements we collected.

Over time, as people move across the site, the colorful super-text will blend into the surrounding gravel, shifting from discreet words and meaning to a palimpsest of diffuse color and aura. How can an artwork change the way people move through the landscape? Can public art act as a conduit for understanding a place more deeply? Through this project, we hope to create more than an object¬–we aim to create an opportunity, for the public and the civic landscape itself, to respond to each other in an earnest and poetic way. 

We set up an installation for Park(ing) Day as a way to engage and gather thoughts, comments, and statements from the St. Louis community, about the St. Louis community. 

Rendering of people walking around the exterior southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio. Overhead aerial rendering of the proposed Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio. Diagram of proposed gravel design at Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio.
In our proposal for InSITE 2020, Dear St. Louis / Sincerely, St. Louis, we envision a type of community generated letter both to and from the people of this city, located on the southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis. 
We propose to install a new pedestrian friendly fine-gravel walkway, within which we compose a field of colorful super-text based on the statements we collected.
Over time, as people move across the site, the colorful super-text will blend into the surrounding gravel, shifting from discreet words and meaning to a palimpsest of diffuse color and aura. How can an artwork change the way people move through the landscape?
Autumn rendering of people walking around the exterior southern edge of the Serra Sculpture Park in downtown St. Louis missouri by arbolope studio.