john david o’brien
I proposed several new elements and the alteration of existing features for Bloom Art Walk. These elements would have created six new points of arrival within the park and each point of arrival had elements that are immediately visible to the viewer. Most have additional elements or aspects that are only revealed over time. Each of these sites has an obvious dimension which is sculptural and each of the sculptures is set up to be able to be plumbed in greater depth by the viewer.
The existing circular rotunda in the center of the field would remain as is. I proposed installing a new set of asymmetrical, two sided benches facing each other across the space in the place of the existing structures. The existing circular wall rotunda that is perpendicular to the one on the ground would be changed to become a monochromatic, low relief series of letters taken from poetry fragments. These letters would run along as one continuous line with breaks to identify authors or dates. These poems would be taken from the history of USC itself, in the form of distinguished alumni or professors. It could be selected with diverse systems ranging from professional editing through to an electronic poll of past and present USC community members..
At the junction where the Philosophy and Art Buildings meet, I proposed building a small wall to create a visual transition in that area and act as a foil for a new circular pedestal. The pedestal would have two parts. The top would be a low relief, scale model topographical map of the University and its neighborhood, made by utilizing aerial photography and rough prototyping in bronze or brass. The sides of the pedestal, instead, would be of field stones. The stone work would be done to leave enough room between the stones so that small paper notes could be inserted into the crevices. There are many places people practice this kind of note leaving, they include expressions of care and hope. By making the University community aware of this usage, it seems to me that there is ample room for the generating of a positive urban myth regarding the fortune of casting one’s tightly scribbled and anonymously transcribed desires into the world.
Just outside of the exit from the Art Building, I proposed placing a distinctly designed water fountain from which drinking water could be drawn. On the wall behind it and arched slightly over this drinking fountain, I proposed placing a dynamic spiral of metal. My hope iwas that the fountain could be presented to the public in such a way to leave ample room for the generating of an urban myth regarding how this water might make one “smarter.”
On the existing bulletin board/kiosk. I proposed the insertion of two LCD monitor screens. One monitor would be connected to some computer(s) located in the Fine Arts Library and through those computers it would be possible for students to post information and/or images. This process could be done as an open forum or it could be under the aegis of a specific Art Dept. class, but the idea is that the virtual space would be student driven. Putting it’s point of access in the library would bring students down to that resource as well. The other monitor would be connected to a camera system that would be digitally recording Bloom Art Walk in real time. A feature of this portion of the proposal would be to hook the recorded information up to a storage system which would allow the images being shown on the screen at any given time to able to be dialed back in time. Therefore, the further the recording proceeds in time ,the further back in time a viewer could go. In the first weeks of operation, it would be acceptable to simply create a real time lag of several hours, but thereafter one would travel back to several years before.
It was my desire that this proposal for a public art work at Bloom Art Walk on the USC campus provide for a thought provoking, visually exciting art work and possibly even add more specificity to a place where people tend just to transit. Ideally, I hoped the Bloom Art Walk would act as a springboard for the inquisitive viewer’s imagination. The combination of layered meanings, secret views, multiple usage, geographical specificity and urban myth-making should well afford those spending time there a wide enough berth for getting into the polyvalent world of academic excellence.
This proposal is dedicated to my son, Francesco, who inspired me with his meandering and clued me in about smart water.