Idea Lab

Virtual Street Corners Aims to Engage Public, Connect Neighbors

by John Ewing
2009 Knight News Challenge Winner

One of the primary challenges of any community art project is how to engage the audience. If no one is lured to participate, the dynamism of the piece is lost. Virtual Street Corners, my Knight-funded community art project, benefits from the fact that there is an element of symbolism due to the respective histories of the two neighborhoods we are trying to connect. As I noted in my grant overview, "The Greater Boston neighborhoods of Brookline and Roxbury are 2.4 miles apart, yet there is little interaction between them because of divisions of race and class." This helps create interest...

• November 30, 2009
• 1 comment

Virtual Street Corners Connects Neighborhoods and People in Boston

by John Ewing
2009 Knight News Challenge Winner

Virtual Street Corners, our Knight-funded project, is scheduled to be installed in Boston between May 15 and June 15 of next year. We have formed an exciting collaboration with the Boston Cyberarts festival, which will be our fiscal sponsor. I thought I would use my first post on Idea Lab to describe the project and fill everyone in on the work and thinking that has already gone into the piece. For those not familiar with the project, I'll offer a quick description. Large glass storefronts in two Greater Boston area neighborhoods, Brookline and Roxbury, will be transformed into video screens,...

• October 16, 2009
• No comments