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Tag: Phase 1: Discover (Page 3 of 3)

Urban Artifacts: Phase 1

 

The cigarette stub lies on the sidewalk as a geometric circular shape. It is a stable figure that blends in with the outside floor. The trash scattered next to the trees are organic shapes. The objects blend in well, making it a stable figure.  The plants next to the seats give off a geometric shape since they grow symmetrically. It is an ambiguous figure, since it is out of place from the background.

When the person was smoking, the cigarette accidentally fell on the ground. This explains why the paper didn’t completely burned off.  The plants were added in that area to make it more lively, since the area is surrounded by construction and buildings.The snacks and cigarette was the result of someone on their lunch break, looking to relax after a long day of work.

Urban Artifacts: Phase One

Afternoon Date

-Afternoon Date –

Taken at Jay Street by WC Art and Drafting Supply Brooklyn, NY

Undergrowth

-Undergrowth-

Taken at Johnson Street site of New York City College of Technology Brooklyn, NY

Alone Together

-Alone Together-

Taken at Jay St. Metro Tech Station Brooklyn, NY

The empty Pepsi and orange juice container side by side in the corner of the window being hit by the sun gives off the impression of two people out together, enjoying each others company. These containers are alone and undisturbed in the sunny afternoon. The small plant growing underneath the storm drain grate shows that even in an industrial place like downtown Brooklyn, nature can still survive and thrive in little nooks and crannies of the city, and finally, the bottle of Arizona and trip of plastic on the earthy brown subway tracks give of the feeling of two people laying on the earth, looking up at the sky, with nothing else but these two objects on the floor, alone, but not completely.

Urban Artifacts: Phase 1

Advertising Card???

Photo taken at Seneca Ave, Ridgewood. Queens

Flyer??? 

Photo Taken at Myrtle-Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn

Cookie Package

Photo Taken at Myrtle-Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn

 

Its very easy to find an urban artifact in New York City and New York itself could also be considered as generator of urban artifact, because it generates enormous of garbage every single day. Three Urban artifacts I choose are advertising card, flyer and cookie package. Each of these artifacts may have a story  behind of its origin and how it ended up in that specific location, thus I made assumption for each artifact.

The advertising card is from a deck of card, a guy bought a poker card in a dollar store and went back home then decided to throw the advertising card since it useless, he threw the card form his window and the card fell on the street.

The Flyer lies in the middle of a side walk. It is not a surprise that its there, because there is a mobile serves store near by, probably they tried to sell their newest serves plan, but the people aren’t interested on that, thus, these flyers ended up in the middle of the side walk instead of in the pocket.

The cookies package lies next to a bench, perhaps someone came back from a long day of work and decided to take a rest on the bench before going home, but he felt little hungry, so he bought him self a pack of cookie for snack. After finished his cookie, he tossed empty package on the floor just like a typical New Yorker instead of the garbage can just few steps away.

 

 

 

 

Urban Artifact : Phase 1

The Missing Piece

The Missing Piece Jay St, Brooklyn Bridge Blvd

Red Rubber? Jay St , Myrtle Promenade Blvd

Red Rubber?
Jay St , Myrtle Promenade Blvd

Missing Metro Card Jay Street, Myrtle Promenade Blvd

If Young Metro Don’t Trust You?!!?
Jay Street, Myrtle Promenade Blvd

A link to our shared google maps. 

 

When discovering these artifacts I noticed a correlation between the objects. In the first picture, the grey metal has both geometric shapes and organic shapes. The grey metal is ambiguous; the shape is very unclear and leaves the audience guessing. In the second picture, the red rubber also has organic and geometric shapes. The rubber is also ambiguous; the shape has an unclear its gives off an abstract shape. Finally, the metro card has a geometric shape. The metro card is stable; you can tell what object it is.

The grey metal was originally a part of a construction site near John Jay st. One of the construction workers was carrying the grey metal and a few other things on a hot July day. The construction worker couldn’t bare the heat, which he just stopped what he was doing and decided to go to Starbucks and buy a vanilla bean frappe. While in the construction worker was getting his drink, a young boy saw the materials and started to play with them. The young boy was swing the grey metal around and around that it slipped out of his hand and landed on the other side of the street.

The red rubber was originally from an art piece from the Brooklyn Museum. Keith Haring’s great granddaughter, Jessica was a piece that required rubber. Jessica finished her art piece in 3 weeks, and her art director told her that her artwork will be featured in her grandfather exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, but she had to bring it herself by Tuesday at 2 pm sharp. It was Tuesday afternoon, and Jessica was rushing to get to the museum at 1:10. As she was running down Johnson st, she bumped into a pedestrian and one of her pieces came off ; she did not  notice until she arrived to her destination.

The metro card was from a Genny, student at F.I.T. Genny was waiting for her friend Sabrina at City Tech. Genny and Sabrina were going to a Future and Drake concert. While waiting, Genny decided to get some from subways and wait in the park. When Sabrina arrived towards the park, Genny started to scream and shout “ARE YOU READY, BEST FRIEND?” Sabrina replied “HELL YEAH, B”. With the entire frisson that was happening, Genny forgot to check for her metro card in her back pocket, she was able to the concert with her spare card; she was still upset that she misplaced her metro card.

 

Urban Artifacts: Phase 1

Our Google Map

There are a lot of things that new yorkers are oblivious to while going about their day through the streets. We’re all very busy in our own little world, trying to get to places. It really never crosses our mind as to why some things end up being where we see them. In this case litter, is what we gave our attention to as we walked out of the building. How did it get there?

As i walked out the first thing i spotted was this used piece of tape. It looks as if it had been used on a box, was someone just so excited to open their package, that they just opened it right on the street? and then there fell the piece of tape on to the ground? Perhaps.

Then i spotted the lonely bottle cap, the very lonely bottle cap stuck between those geometric metal railings. Someone probably just as clumsy as me, probably opened their water bottle and it just rolled straight into that gap.

Lastly, is the empty liquor bottle… So many reasons as of why it was left there, in the middle of such a busy street. But we’ll never really know why, all we can do is assume.

Urban Artifacts Phase 1

 

Plastic Cup Jay St., in front of the train station

Plastic Cup
Jay Street, in front of the train station.

CIgarrates Jay St

Cigarrette
Jay St and Myrtle Promenade

Shredded Paper Johnson Street and Brooklyn Bridge Blvd

Shredded Paper
Johnson Street and Brooklyn Bridge Blvd

A link to our shared google maps: 

The first object I found was the plastic cup on Jay Street, in front of the train station. The cup looked like it was from 7eleven, appeared new, it was geometric and the figure/ground relationship looked stable. The story behind this object would be the person must have thrown away his/her cup once he/she was done. The person did not decide to just throw it in the garbage, instead he/she littered. The second object, the cigarette looked old, small, and stepped on. This was located on Jay Streeet and Myrtle Premenade. It is organic and the figure/ground relationship seemed ambiguous. The person who had this cigarette was probably taking a smoke break and wanted to get out of work. The last object was the shredded paper, that was located in Johnson Street and Brooklyn Bridge Blvd. It shredded paper looked new, it was geometric and the figure/ground relationship was ambiguous. The story behind the shredded paper was it was probably  garabage and there was many of it. It was blown away from the wind and landed there.

 

Urban Artifacts: Phase 1

Art on concrete Location: Jay St. Metrotech

Art on concrete
Location: Jay St. Metrotech

Just a crumbled piece of paper, probably a paper plane in its past life Location: Jay St. Myrtle Ave.

Just a crumbled piece of paper, probably a paper plane in its past life
Location: Jay St. Myrtle Ave.

Just a lonely empty bag of chips Location: Jay St. Metrotech

Just a lonely empty bag of chips
Location: Jay St. Metrotech

 

My first picture is of a chalk drawing of a heart in the concrete. The shape is organic. Now how did this get there?

” Julia a 19-year-old girl decided that art  makes people happy and she wanted to brighten somebody’s day so, she went ahead and decided to draw a heart on the hard, hot surface of the concrete sidewalk. After drawing it she waited to see people’s  reactions to the drawing and after many people walked by she saw many of them smile as they looked down to the heart and that also made her happy”

My second picture portrays a crumpled piece of paper probably a flyer.

“A hard-working middle-class men was very tired  the morning of Monday. Many people don’t take the flyers that he so hardly distributes every single morning. The plumber paper was one of the fliers he thought was pleasantly and gently taken from his hand however that pleasant person that took it from his hand decided to get rid of the paper a few blocks ahead. Then he realized that this was not his thing and decided to quite. He then became an artist making art out of the things he finds on the streets. Just like the piece of crumbled paper he saw on the sidewalk five years ago”.

My last picture is a lonely random bag of chips

“A mom was running late to feed her three-year-old daughter and decided that the only way to feed the baby in a fast way,  was to just give her a bag of chips. The baby was so happy because her mom at usually doesn’t think chips are a good idea specially in the morning. Turns out the baby had an amazing breakfast and she fell asleep with the empty bag of chips on her lap as her mom strolled her around the park. Since it was a crazy windy morning the bag of chips flew away and that’s how the empty bag of chips found its way to Jay St., Metrotech

A link to our shared Google map

 

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