42nd and University Ave.

4211 University Ave.

How does a private entity become "public" property?
For the project, I wanted to understand how physical property changes … how private ownership of retail space is abandoned and the spaces that once housed an affordable meal, or the best used CD selection, are left behind … only to be converted by the public into gathering grounds or shelter, receptacles for litter, and urban canvas for artists who travel alone at night. I also wanted to find a way to document one's urban environment, whether it be a temporary home, a shelter from the winter rain, a late night hangout, or a dark hiding place.

Guided by this research question, I chose to document 4211 University Ave. through photographs. Over the course of the quarter, I took pictures of the storefront, as close to 9:00 AM each morning as possible, but also experimented with other time periods. The images that I gathered are used to document the physical changes that took place over the 4-week period and help to provide insight into how a private business in a heavily populated and commercial zone, becomes an individual's own urban environment. The breadth of the project was huge, and at times impossible to pinpoint exactly what I wanted to convey, so I focused solely on owner neglect and the cyclical private/public activity over the course of my documentation.

Skull by Graffiti Artist "Katsu"

The Beginning: "Katsu"
My intentions and initial thoughts were all sparked by the blatant skull graffiti I found on the Ave. when I first searched the city for communicative texts. As I walked down University from 43rd to 42nd, I noticed four of the same skull in different places, all done by the same artist, in the same sequence. As I discovered each skull, it felt like I was tracking every footstep of the artist in their spraying spree. The most signifcant of the four tags were found inside the same (open) storefront, on opposite walls. I consequently decided that the space would then by my focus for the project. As I stood inside the storefront, which then had nothing protecting it from the public, I remember wondering what the space would serve as, while it was in the process of being rebuilt by the next Ave. business owner. I also remember wanting to document what sort of transition the space would go through before it was purchased again, and regularly maintained.

42nd Street and 4211 University Ave.
I chose my particular space on the Ave. because I thought that it had the greatest potential to yield significant changes over the course of my documentation, whether that be vandalism and graffiti, or design and construction of the new storefront. It wasn't the only space that was vacant at the time, but 42nd St. seemed to generally have the most prolific graffiti, both on the actual street and in the alleyways, which was the fuel to my research fire. I essentially wanted to find a location that would allow for me to display vivid visual changes of the property, via communication texts like graffiti, or physical construction. In order to gain some understanding of how a private entity became a public space, I wanted to capture and analyze images that displayed change. In the back of my mind was this vision of elaborate graffiti-filled walls and garbage strewn about the space, but that level of disorder unfortunately wasn't seen and documented like I had initially imagined it, for a number of different reasons..

Alleyway between the Ave. and Brooklyn

Data Collection
The first day I collected any pictures relevant to my research was January 25th, 2005, when I had first noticed the many skulls. After the 25th, I consistently documented significant changes of the storefront and its physical structure by collecting pictures of the public space on a daily basis. Photographs were my chosen medium because they provide a creative outlet, while vividly illustrating changes. My presentation of significant images over the course of the project can be found below, by clicking on the "film negative".

Discussion of Data
After examining the images that I collected, many interesting patterns and themes emerge that can help to explain the transition from private to public space. First and foremost, one significant theme from my documentation was the neglect of the private space by previous and current owners. In first searching for a space to study, I was attracted to 4211 because it was so vulnerable, with literally nothing protecting the interior of the building from passerbys. The University-District in Seattle is known for its acceptability of homelessness, and as students we experience it each day we visit the "Ave." Within the context of this project however, the homelessness "factor" significantly contributed to my fascination with this new public space, and how it would be used by those who call the streets of any metropolitan area their home. Thus, neglect (in many different forms) by the current business owner, to maintain this particular space was an interesting issue to unpack and develop.

*February 1, 2005 9:28 AM

February 8, 2005 9:50 AM

As seen in the two images above, the graffiti within the storefront hadn't been properly addressed by the current owner until February 8th. The asterik (*) however, represents the fact that February 1 was not the first sighting of the graffiti. The first pictures of the walls within the storefront that I had taken were on January 25, an entire week before the left picture above. In comparison, 4215 was also tagged by Katsu, in what I would assume was the same night. However, the owner of that once-neglected store front had performed, what I would consider to be proper and timely graffiti maintenance (See images below). The circumstantial difference had been graffiti on the glass of 4215 versus the graffiti on the the drywall and plywood of 4211. In my opinion, the surface doesn't justify the neglect to

January 25, 2005

properly maintain the image of a storefront, even in the transition of changing ownership. Some would argue image is nothing until the final product is unveiled, but the image portrayed to the people who utilize the public space for their own good doesn't change, which has already been evidenced by the graffiti scratched into the new windows at 4211. In my own opinion, glass windows or some other sort of "barrier" would be the first structural change to consider in order to keep my business private.

Public and Private Cycles of the Storefront
Throughout the course of my observation, I could feel the different cycles that the storefront was going through. When I had first documented the graffiti, the storefront had been "closed" to other graffiti artists, especially considering I didn't document anychanges in communication texts on the walls of the storefront after the initial sighting

January 26, 2005

on January 25th. Why? I speculate two possible reasons, one of which is an omnipresent respect by graffiti artists for others who practice their craft, and the other being that the space to convey their message had already been taken. Noticeable and significant graffiti however, is crucial in determing when a space has become public for temporary occupation by the homeless or other urban nomads. In this context, I believe the graffiti artists led by example in opening the door and cementing 4211 as a space for public use.

It felt strange to stand ten feet into the space under the cover of the apartment building. As I walked through what used to be a doorway, as depicted by the other storefronts in the same building, it felt like I was crossing an imaginary boundary between public and private space. Graffiti artists had visciously violated the private "boundary" with their artwork prior to January 25th, which in turn made the space very public and noticeable to everyone else in the urban environment. The space had been "closed" to other graffiti writers for possible issues concerning respect or space saturation, however, it had also been newly "opened" ... to all other members of the urban environment.

All three images display use of the public space by people other than the graffiti artists.

All three images were the first signs of use by urban inhabitatnts.

The signs of graffiti or visual disorder opened the space to many urban inhabitants, including a speculated overflow from the neighboring "altrenative" nightclub on the second floor of the "Second Time Around" storefront. Although the space had been opened to the urban "public," it was soon closed both figuratively and literally with the addition of a physical barrier ... windows. The windows however completed the second cycle of the storefront. While closing the space to members of the local urban environment, the windows provided a new outlet for graffiti writers ... a stark-white canvas waiting for artwork. Over the course of my study the space functioned as both an intuitive private and public space, but cycled through each twice in regards to graffiti writers and the homeless.

SO WHAT?
Simply stated, graffiti is fascinating to me. The inspiration and motivation one has to physically communicate themselves, as a rebellious art form, on the sides of buildings and many other places is very interesting. What can be learned and gathered from this project is a possible relationship between graffiti artists and other members of the urban society, but more importantly, how "public" space is defined and seperated from private space. In this particular instance, the space I studied cycled through public and private space, at different time periods, for both graffiti artists and other urban citizens utilizing the space. I found that responsibility can be attached to the owner of the storefront, in that his neglect to properly maintain his property allowed it to be seen by all as "public" space, and thus used by different members of the urban society that exists along the Ave. In archiving urban spaces, this particular project can help to define public space versus private space, and how it can fluctuate between each.

"Self-Evaluation"
In evaluating the process that I went through to gather data, I think it went extremely well. Photography was definitely the right medium to properly display changes in this scenario, but finding the right time to document a space in the middle of the city is challenging. I experimented with different times, day and night, but the morning seemed to best fit my schedule and the streets were significantly less crowded.

If I could do the project all over again, I would definitely try to document more than one space, because there were week-long periods during my documentation where nothing changed. I had eagerly wanted to see the space evolve into an elaborate graffiti wall, which obviously didn't happen, and if I had studied more than one recuperating business on the Ave. I may've been able to catch some more significant changes, or something to compare/contrast this space to. I also feel that another project like this would require a longer period to document the changes and to make concrete conclusions. I would've liked to be able to document the first sighting of graffiti, and see how it builds upon everything else, if it does at all. Also, the storefront that I studied had been open to the community for quite some time before I actually began documenting it, so many changes could have occurred before I took a single picture. In general, this first project felt a little overwhelming, due to the hundreds of different questions that I was pondering during the course of my documentation, and the "Where do I go from here?" type feeling. I think that another look, at a second storefront, would have been beneficial to clarify and sharpen my focus on this particular project.