Photo by N. Horsky, 2007
I’m interested in the public stairways that climb the hill neighborhoods of Boston. They are situated on residential hills with multiple tiers of roadways, and ascend between the tiers to allow pedestrians to quickly reach higher roadways or the summit. Since they are intimate in scale, removed from auto traffic and commerce, and are mainly used by local residents, they offer unique settings for spontaneous social interaction among neighbors. They sometimes become fixtures of urban vitality in the warmer months, and important landmarks for hill communities, but far too often they are poorly maintained and infrequently trafficked.
I have and will continue to utilize various public art tactics to promote the maintenance and use of these stairways for both transportation and socialization. The image above models a potential public art installation of either painting or mosaic on the “Golden Staircase,” as locals in the Parkside neighborhood of Jamaica Plain commonly call it. If installed it would encourage climbers to stop along the stairs, and provide a pleasant common context for interaction. It would increase usage, interest in maintaining the stairs, and may lead to greater appreciation of public art, public space, and of one another.
As an example of a different artistic approach to celebrating public stairways, below is documentation from Bellhop Event for Staircase, written by Neil Horsky and performed by John Skeffington in July 2007.
- Neil
