An illustrated feature in each issue of Spy, called “New, Improved New York,” posits some change, usually involving some in-joke, that will make Gotham a better place. In one issue, for example, the editors suggest holding a Thanksgiving-night parade featuring gigantic balloons not of Mickey Mouse or Superman or even of Mutant Teenage Ninja Turtles but of what Spy calls “overinflated” New York personalities, like perennial Spy targets Liz Smith and Donald Trump.
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Humor and irony are more-than-acceptable approaches–even Spy has assured us that irony is the operative attitude of the moment. But some of the projects exhibited in “Alternative Visions” are so “inside” as to be indecipherable. Like the editors of Spy, their creators are winking at us, but when you need a text to explain the joke–and usually these don’t have a text–it’s not so funny.
A few of the projects seem calculated to capture that prize by appealing shamelessly to the masses–it’s difficult, for instance, to resist David Jennerjahn’s surreal notion, a monument to the Cubs in the form of a C-shaped island due east of Belmont Harbor. But others seem to have been conceived in almost total disregard of the public; they’re good examples of the architectural profession talking to itself. Architects don’t seem to realize that the public doesnt generally understand–or want to understand–deconstructivism, for example.
You can cast your ballot through Monday, May 8, and there will be a panel discussion Monday, May 15, 5:30 to 7 at Preston Bradley Hall. The exhibit will be up until the end of May at the Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. Free. Call 346-3278 for details.
