Then and Now

Formly a meat packing plant, then a cookie factory, Popps Packing is now an experimental art venue and studio that host seasonal indoor/outdoor installations, exhibitions, and performances.
--photo by Marvin Shaouni

Friday, August 20, 2010

Memory Field







Memory Field is a public art project by Graem Whyte and Faina Lerman.

The project site is Calimera Park, located in N.E. Detroit on Joanne Street between Pinewood and Lapin within the Osborn Neighborhood.






In response to the communities request for a rememberance stone , a 100ft earth ripple was created out of soil and low-mow micro clover. A 1700 gallon cistern was installed underground to collect water for the community garden and the ripple.




The Osborn neighborhood is a culturally diverse community of a moderate-

income children and families. It is one of the few neighborhoods in the city that has seen a

growth in population of 11%. The majority of that growth was in children under the age of 18.

There are more children concentrated in the Osborn neighborhood, than anywhere

else in the state, per capita.




Process....


The bobcat had a hard time moving through this muddy swamp and the cistern had to be repositioned due to the soaking wet earth.


thinking...
Whats left of a baseball field in the overgrown and mostly neglected Calimera Park.