Urban Galleries

New ideas for the vacant land must be developed and tested at the neighborhood scale and good ideas that work locally must resonate beyond.  While the ARTFARM installation is only one approach, it has potential to support a larger scale concept – a neighborhood as an ‘urban gallery’.  Repurposing vacant parcels for outdoor art installations would establish a cultural destination within an East Side neighborhood.  With the help of local art institutions, individual artists could be curated into  “neighborhood collections” unique in their content and urban setting.  Practically, the urban gallery gives the neighborhood a tool for managing vacant parcels.  As an improvement strategy, it establishes the framework to support a new interest for redevelopment in the area.  For the city, an urban gallery places them directly into the vanguard of the urban vacancy discussion raising awareness as an innovator and place to watch.   Depending upon the quality of artists, the neighborhood develops a new identity as a cultural destination locally, regionally and beyond.  Managing vacant landscapes doesn’t have to be so mundane.