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The Urban Curators of Providence
Providence, Rhode Island—Next time you’re in Providence, you might see a small picture frame attached to a dilapidated building? If you do, you’ve spotted the work of the Urban Curators.
In a culture that loves the brand, shiny-new look and feel of stores, cars, and packaged goods, a group is setting out to demonstrate the beauty in all things decaying. The Urban Curators project’s goal is to “engage the public in the celebration of the decaying urban environment, recognizing its inherent aesthetic qualities as well as the important role that it plays within our cultural habitat. The project achieves its goal by elevating common, overlooked objects and spaces within the city of Providence, Rhode Island to the level of high art.”
The group, founded by six RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) students places gold, gallery-style frames on places in Providence, “derelict spaces in the city,” as they call them. As they do this, they say on their Web site, “we are framing objects and views that are of aesthetic or cultural value. By utilizing frames that one might expect to find in an art museum or gallery, viewers are forced to make connections between the urban landscape and the museum environment. Viewers are likewise encouraged to reconsider their prior conceptions of beauty and worth, understanding that the spontaneity of decay offers an alternative aesthetic to excessive design.”
The message behind this project is to honor and learn from modern day ruins, as humans have always sought after the grandeur of ruins that were once the glory of ancient cultures.
“The Urban Curators project proposes that we should likewise cherish those ruins that reflect modern-day consumerism and industrialization, realizing them as vehicles by which we can gain insight into our own society,” says the group’s Web site.
The frames are hung with double-sided hardware tape and are easily removed without harm to the spaces in which they are placed. The intention is for the frames to hang temporarily, with community involvement.
The group hopes that the community will interact with the project—finding the frames, removing them, relocating them, and installing their own.
For more information, visit www.urbancurators.com.
—Lori Andreozzi
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