public space Archives - Cultural Daily

SHARING AIR: Post pandemic thoughts on art, LACMA, and The Green New Deal

1 Comment / Architecture / By Stephen Glassman

Spring is here—resurrection, liberation, vaccination. We re-emerge from the rubble of quarantine into fresh air—a little tentative and rattled. The breeze feels good against our unmasked faces. Landscapes have been leveled and reshuffled. There is lots more empty space, between people, on streets, in buildings, in communities. We are beamed photos from Mars and they …

SHARING AIR: Post pandemic thoughts on art, LACMA, and The Green New Deal Read More »

The people, yes. (Part 2)

Leave a Comment / Photography / By Maurice Amiel

In the spirit of Carl Sandburg and Garry Winogrand To introduce the second essay of this occasional series combining a paradigmatic image, with some of my own, I will refer to the last line of Sandburg’s poetic series by the title of The People, Yes. «How does it feel to be seen everywhere?» As if to …

The people, yes. (Part 2) Read More »

When autumn leaves begin to fall

Leave a Comment / Photography / By Maurice Amiel

“Il y avait quelque chose dans l’air, ce matin-là. Ça ne s’explique pas. ( … ) Ça vient ( …) quelquefois à la fin de l’automne. (There was something in the air, that morning. Unexplainable (…) It comes (…) sometimes toward the end of autumn.)” — Philippe Delerm (Translation by M. Amiel) It took …

When autumn leaves begin to fall Read More »

Humour, art and civility

Leave a Comment / Visual Art / By Maurice Amiel

“At night, noise is a nuisance.” That, in plain English, is what in French becomes an opportunity for a phonetically humorous turn of phrase: La nuit, le bruit nuit ! That is what the feature image shows, written with the half-moon in place of the U of “nuit” providing graphic interest, and posted in the …

Humour, art and civility Read More »

Togetherness

2 Comments / Architecture, Community / By Maurice Amiel

Are people, in any crowd, “together”?

Private Moments in Public Space

Leave a Comment / Photography / By Maurice Amiel

It is about moving July 1st is moving day for tenants throughout the city and, given a majority of renters, scenes like the one in the feature image can be experienced as incoming and outgoing tenants, to and from the same unit, juggling for loading and unloading space on the same day if not at the same …

Private Moments in Public Space Read More »

Dos mercados

Leave a Comment / Architecture, Community / By Maurice Amiel

Basic environmental ingredients of the public market The basic environmental ingredients of a public market, as shown in the feature image, are the type of physical shelter, the types of displays of goods, the types of relations between the people who sell and those who shop and the lively social experience that the mix of …

Dos mercados Read More »

What caught my eye of two street characters

Leave a Comment / Photography, Community / By Maurice Amiel

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your generous donation …” — your friendly sidewalk sweeper P. by name is an old acquaintance through frequent sidewalk encounters exchanging banter for a donation, and now posing for a portrait, seated in front of a well-trafficked book store entrance. At Christmas, he will bring his own seat, placing it …

What caught my eye of two street characters Read More »

The Bench as Environmental Figure

2 Comments / Community / By Maurice Amiel

Context Perched on a grassy slope up from the sidewalk, located against a basement wall with no visible means of access, the feature image looks like a bench but for the questions tied to its use: who, why and how … unanswerable to one ignorant of its history and of whether it is on private …

The Bench as Environmental Figure Read More »

Watching the “hollow” … notes on the life of a street bend

Leave a Comment / Architecture / By Maurice Amiel

From backyard to street fronting My recent move took me from a backyard fronting apartment to a street fronting one; from a green space shared by half a dozen apartment building and looked upon by more than a dozen or more balconies, to a rectangular crescent whose shape produced a sense of gathering “hollow” at …

Watching the “hollow” … notes on the life of a street bend Read More »

SPACING temporary architecture

Leave a Comment / Architecture / By Maurice Amiel

If we can accept a working definition of architecture as “enclosed space for human occupancy”, then, “temporary architecture” would be “enclosed space for short term human occupancy.” How does it come about, how is it made, how is it occupied, how long should it last, how does it end … all these depend on the …

SPACING temporary architecture Read More »

Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival Round Two – 2017 – is HERE!

Leave a Comment / Film, Music, Dance, Discourse / By Sarah Elgart

Attention Dancers, Choreographers, & Filmmakers! Due to overwhelming requests we have extended the submission deadline for Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival to NOVEMBER 27th! Cultural Weekly and ScreenDance Diaries are very excited to announce the launch of Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival 2017! Following the success of our first year in …

Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival Round Two – 2017 – is HERE! Read More »

Encounter points at the bus stop

Leave a Comment / Architecture / By Maurice Amiel

A bit of history When I arrived in Montreal in the early 70s the city had just inaugurated its subway creating the need to reorganize its public transportation system around connections between the existing bus network and the new subway one. The reorganization touched on the location of bus lines and stops to coordinate with …

Encounter points at the bus stop Read More »

Encounter Points: Figures of Uncertainty

Leave a Comment / Architecture / By Maurice Amiel

What are they? The figures in question are located in the wrap-around vertical circulation complex of the new Pavilion for Peace of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. (See image* below) The architect’s “parti” was to place that complex along the street, and, by enclosing it in glass, to place the city in display for …

Encounter Points: Figures of Uncertainty Read More »

ENCOUNTER POINTS: Corner

Leave a Comment / Architecture / By Maurice Amiel

About corners as “master figure” of encounter point experience. The word corner is often used in various expressions that refer to a constraining situation such as “to be cornered” and “painting oneself in a corner,” to an orienting location such “at the corner of this and that street,” or to a securing familiar location such …

ENCOUNTER POINTS: Corner Read More »

public space

SHARING AIR: Post pandemic thoughts on art, LACMA, and The Green New Deal

The people, yes. (Part 2)

When autumn leaves begin to fall

Humour, art and civility

Private Moments in Public Space

Dos mercados

What caught my eye of two street characters

The Bench as Environmental Figure

Watching the “hollow” … notes on the life of a street bend

SPACING temporary architecture

Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival Round Two – 2017 – is HERE!

Encounter points at the bus stop

Encounter Points: Figures of Uncertainty

ENCOUNTER POINTS: Corner

Who are we?

Follow Us

Site Map

Share the Love

Mailing List

What are you looking for?