More Mojo
In case you haven't cruised 7th Street yet to get a look at our newest piece of public art, here's some daylight shots of the installed Mojo. It's not in operation yet, I saw someone playing around with the wiring in the base of the sculpture this morning.
above - closeup of the "robot arm" part of the sculpture. I like the security camera keeping an eye on the plaza.
above - here's what it looks like from the corner of 7th & Centre. Click to embiggen.
above - closeup of the "robot arm" part of the sculpture. I like the security camera keeping an eye on the plaza.
above - here's what it looks like from the corner of 7th & Centre. Click to embiggen.
Labels: art, Centre Street Lofts, development, Mojo, planning, Public Art
13 Comments:
I feel somebody watched the first short subject by Pixar animation, about the lamp that moved, one or two-thousand too many times.
Good, the homeless can sleep underneath it.
I have to give some grudging props to whichever huckster came up with this.
When you think about it, it's the perfect quasi-bohemian yuppie bait. As another poster pointed out, the loft resident can congratulate himself on his artsiness (which, in this case, has about the same relationship to art that Colbert's "truthiness" has to truth). At the same time the camera makes him feel a bit more secure against the possibility of being jacked for his Prius as he drives out of the parking garage.
Isn't that pretty much the selling point of this whole loft hustle? That in exchange for taking on half a million dollars of debt, you get to live a "lifestyle" that is "urban" without being too uncomfortably...y'know...urban?
That's Mojo's job, bless his lampy-looking little heart. Sellin' the lifestyle. At the Centre Street Lofts, You Can Have It Both Ways! (<--- I've already trademarked that, so don't even think about it, fuckers.)
Congratulations, imbg. I believe you've sussed it.
Gotta say that it's a big, wierd thing that's making a lot of people scratch their heads and talk about it. So, as a public art piece, it's off to a good start.
Ewwwwww!!!!
The combination of "ugly modern building" plus "bad public art" is a time honored tradition. I'm just not sure that I've seen anybody use the "bad public art" part of the equation as a selling point before.
Garrison, you're half right. People are talking, but at least on this site nobody's scratching their head. It's not that hard to figure out what the purpose of this thing is.
Do you guys really think people bought into this development because of the Mojo thing? If that's all it takes to spark gentrification, well, then jeez, we could sure avoid a lot of hassle the next time.
They've definitely marketed all three major loft developments as being in an "Arts District", and this building's prominent public art component is part of that marketing.
Developers often want to spend the 1% for the arts money on site. Generally they feel like it's an unfair tax anyways, and if they're allowed to spend it on site then it accrues some value to their property, both as a tenant attractor and as part of that property's value as a whole. The 1% of the arts fee creates unusual relationships and often gives birth to strange children.
I'm still surprised that the developer went with this piece. It strikes me as problematic/embarrassing in the long term and I just don't like it enough to see someone wanting to permanently attach it to one's property.
Here and I always thought that Mojos were the potato wedges that are served at Shakey's Pizza.
Garrison wrote:
Do you guys really think people bought into this development because of the Mojo thing?
That's not quite what we said, now, is it? It's pretty obvious that it's being installed as a selling point, aimed at a certain target demographic, though.
No, I don't think you guys said that. I was just using a little sarcasm to get into the head of the developer. I agree with you about this thing, particularly Calamari. In a few months, it's going to be broken. And in a year, it will be replaced by a statue of a guy.
It will be broken after a year, as you say, but it won't be replaced with anything. It'll just be another "security" camera among many.
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