Manhattan’s Urban Fabric
2008-09-22 01:24:47 - by Nicolas Malevé

A project by Liz Kueneke that took place in Conflux, the annual New York festival for contemporary psychogeography.

“Manhattan’s Urban Fabric” is a public intervention which intends to show just a glimmer of this richness, and to make visible what normally remains invisible about a place: our opinions, impressions, and feelings about it. Participants answer various questions by sewing simple symbols into the map, and they are also welcome to embroider freely along the edges of the cloth. Through this work I want to offer a participatory experience to the people (and visitors) of Manhattan, which permits them to reflect upon their own use of the urban space. The project has two main goals. First, the communication between participants about personal memories and community issues is facilitated by the intimate act of “sharing a table” and commenting together about their shared city. Furthermore, the act of embroidering, which for some is a hobby, and for others a new experience, enhances the conversation. Second, the results obtained can be an important source of material for urban planning, or at the very least, as a jumping-off point to discussion. The patterns and nodes of responses created, can contribute to a wider understanding of the complexity of uses of the city.

See some documents of other works by Liz Kueneke at the Hangar’s website.