Hasta La Ideas

The tech start-up Broadcastr, which just recently unveiled themselves as a company back in mid-December, has announced a big partnership with the September 11th Memorial and Museum to help offer up and share location-based audio recordings surrounding the events of nearly ten years ago. The memorial and museum group had already been recording stories from first responders, rescue workers, volunteers and residents from the area, and they will be used within an iPhone/Android app the start-up will be launching in early February. The app’s service itself requests that people also use it to record their own thoughts and memories about specific places, and in addition to listening to the previously captured pieces, will encourage users to record theirs, which will then be included in the accessible repository of stories. It’s an interesting, positive story and idea, made all the more hopefully given the memorial and museum project’s major hurdles since nearly the day the area began rebuilding, and what 60 Minutes last year called “a national disgrace.” Now that we’ve reached 2011, with all those promises long-since made that a good portion of the work would be completed for the anniversary in September, here’s to hoping more positive stories are to come. Here’s a bit from the partnership announcement:

“At the heart of the 9/11 Memorial is a commitment to honor the victims of the September 11 attacks and educate future generations about these events that forever changed our world. By sharing our collection of stories, we are supporting our educational mission, shaping history through memory,” 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said. “Our partnership with Broadcastr allows people around the world to connect to a place that will continue to inspire thousands of stories of hope and compassion.”

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While much of the most recent national talk about St. Louis has been about revitalization, there’s a history in that city, and many like it, about architectural and urban planning projects run afoul. Such is the subject of what looks to be a fascinating documentary, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History. The film, directed by Chad Freidrichs, tells the story of America’s urban renewal projects in the 1950s and 60s, St. Louis’ famous Pruitt-Igoe framing the discussion. Built in the mid-50s and designed by Minoru Yamasaki (who also designed the World Trade Center towers), the housing project was seen as the savior of the inner city working class. Yet some decade and a half after it was built, living conditions at deteriorated and the city had it demolished. On a base level, the project was labeled as a failure of colossal proportions. The film, however, looks to want to dig into the stories of how it came to be, what went both right and wrong, and in general “set the historical record straight.” Here’s some thoughts Archinect has on the film and Pruitt-Igoe itself and here’s the trailer:

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Across the country, but continuing this early-winter’s theme of art controversies, the battle over the artist Christo‘s plans to assemble a new, massive installation along the Arkansas River in rural Colorado, called “Over the River,” continues to be heated. Per usual with the artist’s works, there’s the group who doesn’t want him touching their turf and there’s the other side who do. In this case, environmentalists have been attempting to push the project away, saying his desire to put up nearly 6 miles of fabric along the river will disrupt not just the natural beauty of the place, but nature as well. Nothing entirely new there, as that sort of push back is par for the course when it comes to his work. However, after the environmental protection group, the Sierra Club, got involved late this summer, saying that they were okay with Christo’s plans, the LA Times reports that there have been a series of infighting battles against the pro and con groups, with the con contingent now feeling like they’ve been abandoned by the most powerful organization they thought they’d have on their side to help swing the battle their way. The groups will continue to duke it out until this spring, when the Bureau of Land Management decides if the project will get the okay or not (you might recall that this summer they released Environmental Impact Statements about the project). In the interim, and also like usual, Christo is enjoying the whole, laborious process: “By discussing the work of art they become part of the work of art,” he said. “They make it more important.”

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Speaking of museums in these uncertain economic times, the Smithsonian‘s finances are back in the news once again. While having been in some tight spots over the last couple of years, namely the organization finding itself $2.5 billion in debt back in 2007, it seemed as though the hiring of G. Wayne Clough to lead the charge had started to make a difference. Between hiring and raise freezes and extended hours, it looked as though they might make it through these meager years relatively unscathed. But now a task force within the Obama administration, formed to research efforts to curb spending, are proposing that the Smithsonian
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JE6POO0.htm”>receive less federal funds and move from being free to charging $7.50 per visitor, to make up the difference from the cut (the Washington City Paper takes this interesting look on how they got to that $7.50 figure). This is not the first time this idea has been raised, as the Smithsonian seems a popular target from time to time. And as it was in the past and is today, we ask, is this really the best idea? If we’re going to tolerate licensing deals with QVC and branded-furniture at department stores by a publicly-funded, legendary cultural institution, isn’t it the least we can do by keeping it free of charge? Better still, maybe just hold an annual employee shakedown, as the last one resulted in more than $12 million in stolen loot. Apologies in advance for that suggestion to any museum employees who happen to read this, but if you’ve been pocketing antiquities or wads of donated checks, now’s the time to fess up. Your country needs you.

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While all the architecture talk in the UK at the moment might be soured by Prince Charles‘ recent, devious power play, there’s other news this week that should provide some more positive emotions about building coming from a place that provides them annually. The Serpentine Gallery, who hires a hot-shot architect every summer to build them a temporary pavilion in London’s Hyde Park (Peter Zumthor is up next), has announced that they’ve commissioned recent Stirling Prize-winner Zaha Hadid to redesign the interior of a nearby parks-owned building they’ve just won the lease to (pdf), beating out the Halcyon Gallery and Damien Hirst who were also vying for it. The Serpentine also has plans for Hadid to build something new alongside it, “an adjoining pavilion to be used as a social space and restaurant, creating a permanent architectural landmark in the heart of London.” Given that the architect has twice designed pavilions of the temporary variety for the gallery, their selection of architect doesn’t come as too great a surprise. Here’s a bit from the statement they’ve put out about their new second home:

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime for the Serpentine Gallery. We have been interested in the potential of the building for some time and how it could help us expand the range of what we do. In these challenging times, we feared the opportunity would be lost. We are very grateful to our long-term friends for their very generous assistance, which has made it possible for us to create this exciting, new platform for the UK and beyond.”

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