July 19, 2008
Williamsburg, and Pedestrian Stick Figures, Walk Today
It's gonna be a scorcher today, the first day of Williamsburg Walks -- where the neighborhood creates a pedestrian-only zone on Bedford Avenue between Metropolitan and North 9th Street.
Metro reports on a local artist who will be on hand that may be feeling the heat a little bit more than others. Yvette Helin dresses in all black, depicting the walk symbols one might see on a traffic sign; today she'll be a pedestrian crossing stick figure.
The professional costume designer first launched the “Pedestrian Project” in 1989, taking to the city streets with a troupe of costumed volunteers. She eventually traveled the globe with the piece. But she hasn’t performed as a stick figure in New York since the year 2000 at the Museum of Modern Art. After 9/11, the project “felt wrong” to her.Helin was encouraged by the Community Board “because it promotes walking in an iconic, fun way that’s true to the spirit of Williamsburg’s off-beat arts culture.” She hopes to get more folks on board for future Saturdays, but noted that the first time around it will just be her, and possibly a pedestrian baby, noting: “That’s what you do in Willamsburg now. The breeders are all buying the new condos.”
The stretch of Bedford will be without cars from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m, every Saturday through August 9th.
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"Williamsburg’s off-beat arts culture."
"The breeders are all buying the new condos."
Trying to reconcile these two phrases in my head...can't...do it...brain imploding........
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"Trying to reconcile these two phrases in my head...can't...do it.."
OK, I'll take you through it. Try to stay with me, this gets complicated:
A single neighborhood might be home to more than one type of person.
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Or... "Hipsters can have babies, too."
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My point, which I tried to communicated in an amusing (as opposed to obnoxious) way was that an "off-beat arts culture" has kind of a tough time existing in a neighborhood that is increasingly becoming home to all those wonderful, shiny, brand spankin' "new condos" that all the people who created said arts culture in the first place will never be able to afford.
But I guess that gets just a bit too complicated for YOU.
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wow.. yvette comes off as one embittered 50 yr old lonely spinster.. i feel bad for her