Arts 729. 8313

Corona Studio: Transforming Corona Plaza

Mondays, 1:40-5:15

Connor, Sholette, Hum

Corona Studio is a cross-disciplinary class that combines the history and theory of social practice art with aspects of urban research and design.  Art students will collaborate with social science students to uncover the needs of various stakeholders in the Queens community of Corona and apply their findings in a concrete project: the re-design of Corona Plaza. We will then apply these findings to the redesign of Corona Plaza, developing imaginative and unconventional design solutions and programming initiatives that will improve the visual and social environment in a real public space.

Requirements

• Students join working groups to investigate specific client needs related to Corona Plaza.

• Each group presents research findings to class for discussion and feedback.

• Feedback is incorporated into proposal for Final Group Project.

• Final Group Projects are researched & designed for client’s needs, plus class feedback.

• Research materials including surveys and literature review submitted at end of course.

• Reading assignments and participating in class discussions is an essential requirement.

Grading

·       30% participation

·       30% quality of research

·       30% imaginative and practical aspects of Final Group Project

SYLLABUS

* Please note that every class except January 30 and February 21st will meet at:

 Immigrant Movement International & Corona Studio Headquarters: 108-59 Roosevelt Avenue

(1/2 Block from 111th Street 7Train Stop), http://immigrant-movement.us/our-location/

Jan 30 & Feb 21 Classes Meet at: Queens College in room Klapper 672, on top floor.

 All SUPPLEMENTAL Readings & Links

Week One: January 30th : Introductions and Orientation to Seminar and to Corona Park

Class meets at Queens College in room 672, top floor of Klapper Hall.

The course syllabus is explained along with class expectations and requirements.

Students and Professors introduce their interests and research.

Presentation by Tom Finklepearl, Director of the Queens Museum of Art (QMA) on Social Movement Antecedents to Social Practice Art;

followed by Prerana Reddy, Director of Public Events, QMA, who will introduce the stakeholder clients that collaborating groups will focus upon for their research and Final Project.

Readings for Week Two, Feb. 6:

·         Corona Studio Final Report, Hunter College Graduate Urban Planning Studio, Tom Agnotti and Lynn McCormick, Supervisors, 2004. Read Executive Summary and Chapter 3, pp 85-120. http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/urban/resources/Corona.pdf

·         Eleven Principles for Transforming Public Spaces Into Great Community Places, Adapted from How to Turn a Place Around, Project for Public Spaces, 2000. http://troymi.gov/futures/Research/Image%20and%20Feel/Eleven%20Principles%20for%20Transforming%20Public%20Spaces.pdf

 

Week Two: Feb. 6th  Class Meets at  Immigrant Movement International  (108-59 Roosevelt Ave ½ block from 111th Street 7 Train Stop

QMA Director of Public Events, Prerana Reddy will provide a history of QMA’s activities in and around the plaza and a basic presentation on Corona demographics and economies.

Understanding the space that will be hosting class: Presentation about the Immigrant Movement International by resident artist Tania Bruguera who has been working for over one year in the space, creating a venue for local artists and activists to work on immigration education and advocacy. Overview of how to use the space in out-of-class time.

Tarry Hum leads discussion on the PPS reading, and hands out observation questions. We will walk to Corona Plaza (please be sure to dress appropriately for the weather, bring smart phones/digital cameras if you have them), and do short walking tour of the site and fill out sheets. Feel free to draw, collect objects. Keep the sheets, drawings, and objects and make observations, bring them to following class.

Assignment for Week Three, Feb. 21: (NB This is a Tuesday, Queens College following a Monday schedule on this day):

Prepare presentation of Corona Plaza observations. Upload photos, videos to you tube and flckr or bring them on memory stick or thumb drive.  ‘Show and Tell’ for found objects, audio clips, rubbings, etc.

Readings for Week Three, Feb. 21  “Interviews” Research Methods Knowledge Base, M.K. Trochim, 2006: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intrview.php

  •  Excerpts about Park Fiction and Project Row Houses from The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context, Grant H. Kester, Duke University Press, 2011. pp. 199-227.  (pdf for download: here)

 

 

NO CLASS ON FEB 13: UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY

Week Three: Feb. 21st: Observational Inquiry & Survey Methodologies.  

REMINDER: This class meets at QC: Klapper Hall, Rm 672

Part 1: Gregory Shollette leads discussion of Grant Kester Reading

Part 2: Students present their observations of Corona Plaza, viewing of images including Flckr Pool images and videos including youtube videos, found objects, audio recordings, etc. What are the overall challenges in the space? What are the assets?

Part 3:Presentation about best survey practices and interview techniques by Professor Tarry Hum.

 

Readings for Week Four, Feb. 27:

Week Four: Feb. 27th: Participatory Planning & Capital Processes

Part 1: Discussion on Myrtle Avenue Plaza Program Process & Findings based on Readings

Part 2: Students will break into working groups based around specific stakeholder clusters.

Part 3: Demonstration Interview with Real Stakeholder, Valeria Treves, Director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment & Follow-up Discussion

Part 4: Guest Speaker: Hester Street Collaborative’s Dylan House, who has developed the online toolkit People Make Parks, will speak about innovative tools to get general public, particularly new immigrants  involved in envisioning new capital projects in parks.

Part 5: Planning time for each group to strategize their initial research and outreach strategies.

Working groups will discuss projects and plan research approach with faculty.

Week Five: March 5th: Field Work

Corona Studio will be open for stakeholder meetings, faculty will be available for consultation.

Week Six: March 12th: Debriefing Session

Part 1: Following a half-day of continued field research Working Groups will informally present their findings so far for faculty and class feedback and suggestions.

Part 2: Groups will also meet to begin discussing ideas for their Final Projects.

Readings for Week Seven, March 19: TBA

Week Seven: March 19th: Preliminary Project Proposals

Students share data and preliminary ideas about research and proposals ideas thus far.

Visiting Respondents: Arturo Sanchez, Community Board 3, Professor of Urban Planning, Cornell University) & Tom Agnotti,(tentative) Professor of Hunter College Department of Urban Planning,

Readings for Week Eight, March 26: TBA

 Week Eight : March 26th: Discussion with Corona Plaza Clients

Part 1: Meeting with the key players/leaders in the Corona Plaza Redesign project discussing their history with the plaza and their vision for its future.

Ricardi Calixte, Neighborhood Development Director, Queens Economic Development Corporation,

Ruben Peña, Director Corona Community Action Network (Local Business Alliance)

Part 2: A Discussion Session, followed by working group activity and feedback from faculty.

Week Nine: April 2: Digital Tools for Planning & Urban Design

Part 1: Meeting with the another key players in the Corona Plaza Redesign project:.

Julissa Ferreras, Corona City Councilmember

Part 2:

Betaville Presentation with Cark Skelton

Betaville is an open-source multiplayer environment for real cities, in which ideas for new works of public art, architecture, urban design, and development can be shared, discussed, tweaked, and brought to maturity in context, and with the kind of broad participation people take for granted in open source software development…http://urbanomnibus.net/2011/01/betaville/

Readings for Week Ten, April 16:

-Review website: http://whownspace.blogspot.com/

-Look at the guide by Street Plans Collaborative: Tactical Urbanism, Volume 1

& TBA from Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture by Greg Sholette        FIND A READING HERE: “History That Disturbs the Present”

SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS April 9

Week Ten: April 16: What is Public Space and how have Artists Intervened in it?

-Lecture by Gregory Sholette: Civil Disturbances OR Collectivism, Modernism, and the Urban Imagination 

– Lectures by #whOWNSpace
#whOWNSpace is a collaborative whose goal is to gain many other collaborators and together learn from what has happened at Zuccotti park/OWS — using design and art as an advocacy tool so that community groups and activists can continue to use collectively owned and organized urban spaces to further their political, social, and economic agendas.

-Guest Lecture: #whOWNSpace: STRATEGIES
by Quilian Riano from DSGN AGNC
On how #whOWNSpace has used design as a tool to Observe and Diagram urban open spaces. These observations are being used to create strategic goals for local networks of public spaces for community engagement,

-Guest Lecture: #whOWNSpace: TACTICS
by Aurash Khawarzad from Project for Public Spaces &  DoTank: Brooklyn
On “Tactical Urbanism” and how to use tactical interventions to reach strategic community goals.

These lectures will be followed bya  walk to Corona Plaza for an observation and diagramming exercise as well as group brainstorm of tactical urban interventions

Readings for April 23: TBA

Week 11 April 23: Is Space Gendered?

Part 1: Lecture by Maureen Connor: Who’s Welcome Here?: Challenging the Limits

Part 2: Meeting another key player in Corona Plaza redesign project: presentation by Vaidila Kungys, NYC Department Of Transportation, Plaza Program Coordinator.  

 

Weeks 12 & 13 April 30: & May 7 Group/team  Working Sessions at IMI/Corona Studio Headquarters

Professors and QMA advisors present for consultation, feedback, critique, advice about organizing presentations, technical assistance, etc.

Week 14 May 14: Final Presentations of proposal for Corona Plaze made by each team/group

Audience will include QMA advisors, other QC Art Department faculty, other invited guests

ALL READINGS

  •  Excerpts about Park Fiction and Project Row Houses from The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context, Grant H. Kester, Duke University Press, 2011. pp. 199-227.  (pdf for download: here)
  • Review NYC DOT Plaza Program Round 1-4 awardees: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/sidewalks/publicplaza-sites.shtml

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:

Jackson Height Project


Park Fiction a reading by Grant Kester

Please be prepared to answer these questions, as well as present your own questions and observations about the text which is found here.

  • How would you define the stakeholders invested in, or opposed to Park Fiction?
  • And how does Kester see this combination of history, and stakeholders as crucial to the success, as well as sustainability of the park project ?
  • How did the rise of enterprise zones in the mid-1990s change local politics and plans?
  • What became of the “red light” district at this time and how does it relate to the story?
  • ‘No longer working’ said a local art-activist…what did he mean? (See page 202.)
  • Describe the “Planning Container” including its contents and how it functioned
  • Kester says there were three kinds of political transformations brought about by the success of Park Fiction – what are these and how would you describe them? (See 204.)
  • What is spatial autonomy, and what is so significant about it?
  • A ‘parallel planning process’ is one of the ways Kester defines Park Fiction’s collaborative process. Do you agree? And what was it parallel to and how?
  • How does Kester see the historical militancy of St Pauli helping to establish Park Fiction?
  • And yet, the function of the “roundtable” between activists and city planners was also a way to co-opt the movement Kester argues on 209-210. Do you agree?
  • How would you analyze the difference between PLAY and WORK, and its importance?

Follow up materials:

Squatting Europe Kollective meets in NYC Feb 23- 27th, see:                        Occupations & Properties

Interview with Rick Lowe of Project Row Houses, Houston, TX :                                 Activism as Art: Shotgun Shacks Saved Through Art-Based Revitalization

The concept of the dérive or “drift”: http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm

Alex Villar, Temporary Occupations