Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures
Short Description In 2005 I've participated in an open call for a public art project. The project included the redesign of 5 station buildings along a railroad connecting small villages in the middle of the Austrian Alps. Any type of artistic medium was welcome. My application suggested to repaint each of the station buildings separately with a monochrome color chosen by the population of the neighboring village. Each member of the neighboring village age 6 and older would be allowed to pick their favorite color from a 256 solid edge color palette. It seemed clear to me that the 5 station buildings would end up becoming social sculptures with unusually bold color choices, thus creating continuous discourse among the train travelers and neighboring villagers who would likely not have chosen that same color for their own station. The proposal was sent off but got lost in the mail; this is the reason why I keep talking about this project in lectures at times to keep something alive that might have been a great fit for the local people and could have added humor and discussion to their lives; but since it didn’t meet its jury, we’ll never know. Detailed Description Call for Proposals On behalf of their 100th anniversary of the Montafoner Railway (Vorarlberg/Austria) the local non-for-profit organization Kunstforum Montafon puts out an open call for artistic proposals to renew the railway stations design or intervene with the existing formation of the station premises and buildings such as Schruns, Tschagguns, Kaltenbrunnen, Vandans and St. Anton i.M. Budget per station may not exceed 12.000,- euro including tax. The call is open to any Austrian citizen and unrestricted in terms of artistic material. Richard Jochum, New York 2005; http://richardjochum.net Proposal Richard Jochum Every participating station's facade will be re-painted. The particular color has to be picked by the community of the neighboring village. Realization Each community member older than 6 and living within the commuter belt of the concerned 5 stations gets a color palette to choose his/her 3 favorite colors from an array of 256. The favorite color of the neighboring community will be ascertained and taken to paint the stations' building - starting with the building in the very back of the valley - moving towards the station to the front of the valley till the full circle is concluded. In recognition of local architectural conditions such as sockets and pedestials a 20 percent darker tone may apply. A color palette is going to be provided by the artist (see above). Remarks The project as proposed is an artistic intervention in the public space. The participation of the entire population within the particular muncipialities is what the project is aiming for. The partipating communities are invited to shape their own public space: (1) through partaking within the survey, (2) through the uprising discussion that is to be expected (short- and long-term). The outcome will be 5 different colors which are going to be used to paint the station buildings of the neighboring villages; which will subsequently turn into sculptures of the participation processess. The objectives to put the decision about the particular colors into the hands of the communities of the adjacent villages is fourfold. (1) First of all it symbolizes an imagery of travelling from one station to the next (and so forth). (2) Secondly it gets hold of the pattern of local communication structures as such. Given the typology of village communities within a particular valley it is evident that they find their own identity in segreggation and association (through sometimes real, more often ficitious, constructed differences as they reverberate through jokes, weird little stories etc.). The project not only mirrors this practice, it also further constructs it. (3) When it comes to pick a color for a facade decision making is rarely limited by one owns taste but usually a compromise between a more personal choice and a (rather fictitious) general taste. This dilemma is compelling, the proposed project only tries to railroad the community to the conflict. (4) In recent years the architecture of Western Austria has become a role model for innovation and excellence. Facade color is not architecture itself, especially when it comes to shape, nevertheless shapes and attracts our perception of public spaces. An exciting, if not skirmish tpye of proposal may grant public discourse in a vibrant context of new architure.
Title of the Proposal “Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures."
Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures
Short Description In 2005 I've participated in an open call for a public art project. The project included the redesign of 5 station buildings along a railroad connecting small villages in the middle of the Austrian Alps. Any type of artistic medium was welcome. My application suggested to repaint each of the station buildings separately with a monochrome color chosen by the population of the neighboring village. Each member of the neighboring village age 6 and older would be allowed to pick their favorite color from a 256 solid edge color palette. It seemed clear to me that the 5 station buildings would end up becoming social sculptures with unusually bold color choices, thus creating continuous discourse among the train travelers and neighboring villagers who would likely not have chosen that same color for their own station. The proposal was sent off but got lost in the mail; this is the reason why I keep talking about this project in lectures at times to keep something alive that might have been a great fit for the local people and could have added humor and discussion to their lives; but since it didn’t meet its jury, we’ll never know. Detailed Description Call for Proposals On behalf of their 100th anniversary of the Montafoner Railway (Vorarlberg/Austria) the local non-for-profit organization Kunstforum Montafon puts out an open call for artistic proposals to renew the railway stations design or intervene with the existing formation of the station premises and buildings such as Schruns, Tschagguns, Kaltenbrunnen, Vandans and St. Anton i.M. Budget per station may not exceed 12.000,- euro including tax. The call is open to any Austrian citizen and unrestricted in terms of artistic material. Richard Jochum, New York 2005; http://richardjochum.net Proposal Richard Jochum Every participating station's facade will be re-painted. The particular color has to be picked by the community of the neighboring village. Realization Each community member older than 6 and living within the commuter belt of the concerned 5 stations gets a color palette to choose his/her 3 favorite colors from an array of 256. The favorite color of the neighboring community will be ascertained and taken to paint the stations' building - starting with the building in the very back of the valley - moving towards the station to the front of the valley till the full circle is concluded. In recognition of local architectural conditions such as sockets and pedestials a 20 percent darker tone may apply. A color palette is going to be provided by the artist (see above). Remarks The project as proposed is an artistic intervention in the public space. The participation of the entire population within the particular muncipialities is what the project is aiming for. The partipating communities are invited to shape their own public space: (1) through partaking within the survey, (2) through the uprising discussion that is to be expected (short- and long-term). The outcome will be 5 different colors which are going to be used to paint the station buildings of the neighboring villages; which will subsequently turn into sculptures of the participation processess. The objectives to put the decision about the particular colors into the hands of the communities of the adjacent villages is fourfold. (1) First of all it symbolizes an imagery of travelling from one station to the next (and so forth). (2) Secondly it gets hold of the pattern of local communication structures as such. Given the typology of village communities within a particular valley it is evident that they find their own identity in segreggation and association (through sometimes real, more often ficitious, constructed differences as they reverberate through jokes, weird little stories etc.). The project not only mirrors this practice, it also further constructs it. (3) When it comes to pick a color for a facade decision making is rarely limited by one owns taste but usually a compromise between a more personal choice and a (rather fictitious) general taste. This dilemma is compelling, the proposed project only tries to railroad the community to the conflict. (4) In recent years the architecture of Western Austria has become a role model for innovation and excellence. Facade color is not architecture itself, especially when it comes to shape, nevertheless shapes and attracts our perception of public spaces. An exciting, if not skirmish tpye of proposal may grant public discourse in a vibrant context of new architure.
Title of the Proposal “Color Choices. Participatory Sculptures."