Powerful Spaces

Readers often tell us that they love our “Projects We Love” department, so we began this issue with the simple idea to add more pages and fill them almost entirely with inspiring works. A theme emerged early in our process; the editorial team was drawn to the work of artists and designers using their unique ability as creative visionaries, problem-solvers, and meaning-makers to create powerful and timely spaces. Over 103 pages devoted exclusively to 15 projects—whether in Alabama or Alaska, Brownsville or Boston, Buenos Aires or Madrid—you’ll discover how artists and designers created 15 public art and creative placemaking projects that connect us to our shared humanity.

Also moving are insights from community leaders Nia Umoja, who shares how a community is developing its own model for sustainability, and Joseph Claunch, who describes how artists led the development of a community park.

We hope you will be as inspired reading this issue as we were making it.
Some headlines were edited for online. You’ll find the print headlines at the bottom of each post.

Powerful Spaces / 15 Projects, 103 Pages

A Steam-Powered Statement, a Raucous Response to Racism
As in all of Walker’s work, the darkness in The Katastwóf Karavan is shot through with strange whimsy and irony | Kara Walker with Jason Moran, New Orleans

From Powerful Portraits to Performance and Advice Space
A stage, photo gallery, and wall of viewer responses | CarryOn Homes, Minneapolis

Three Artist-Activists Help a Neighborhood Dream About, and Develop, its Economic Future
Clarifying the permitting process while celebrating community | Las Imaginistas, Brownsville, TX

Prison-Issues Study Center by Day, Nightclub by Night
Education, dance, and a record album, all aimed at ending mass incarceration | Phil Collins, The Fortune Society, and Creative Time, New York

Citizenship Explored and Expanded: Dimensions of Citizenship, the U.S. Contribution to Venice Architecture Biennale
Sculptural and conceptual interpretations of citizenship | multiple artists, Venice

Floating Figures Make a Vivid Statement About the Plight of Refugees
Safety Orange Swimmers elicit powerful reactions | Ann Hirsch + Jeremy Angier, Boston

A Serene, Healing Space
The Healing Pavilion was designed to calm and console hospital visitors | Ball-Nogues Studio, Los Angeles

A Pop-up Design Lab in a Madrid Plaza
A portable, adaptable mini-greenhouse that became a public workshop for generating ideas | Enorme Studio and MINI Hub, Madrid

Bringing the Lives of the Easily Ignored into the Awareness of their Neighbors
Stories of people experiencing homelessness | Lava Mae, ZERO1, and collaborators, San Francisco

A Derelict Church Becomes an Art-Energized Community Center
An affordable-housing agency runs an art/performance venue | Cook Inlet Housing Authority, Anchorage

A Movement to Give Women Muralists their Due in Argentina and Beyond
Large-scale portraits of women invite both admiration and contemplation | Mariela Ajras, Buenos Aires

The Community Houses of Power House Productions
An artist-led neighborhood revitalization project | Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope, Detroit

Serenity in Steel
A peaceful pavilion built on Native American principles—with a nod to High Modernism

Facing the Reality of Racial Terror
A memorial challenges Confederate monuments | Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery, AL

A Collaboration Between Artist, Artisans, and MTA
A key piece in an ambitious public-transit public art program | Ann Hamilton, New York

All articles in this special section were written by Public Art Review senior editor Jon Spayde.

Publisher’s & Editor’s Notes

Read these two notes on Forecast’s Issuu page, linked below

Resilience and Ingenuity
Theresa Sweetland

Where We Can Be Together
Karen Olson

In the Field

News, views, and ideas

In Neighborhood We Trust
Nia Umoja of New West Jackson, Mississippi, shares how the community is developing its own model for sustainability.
Sarah Westlake

A Cultural Park for the Health of the Kids
Joseph Claunch of the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project describes how Zuni artists led the development of Ho’n A:wan Community Park
Karen Olson
*Read More about this project in FORWARD

Jack At Large

A Change of Heart
How aware are planners that public art has evolved from the commissioning of objects and wall treatments into a sophisticated practice that addresses the challenges of practically every sector in our cities, our suburbs, and our rural communities?
Jack Becker

Last Page

Night Watch
A silent film of people granted asylum in the United States | Shimon Attie, New York City
Karen Olson