Rambling Rose Resettlement.
These are the names of paint colors developed by artists Mel Ziegler and Kate Ericson in collaboration with the tenants of a public housing complex in Chicago for the 1992/3 project Eminent DomainÂ
The project consisted of a paint chart based on the history of public housing and housing legislation in the United States. The chart serves as an alternative to conventional âcleanâ histories, and points out many ironies and contradictions in the perceptions of public housing and suburban housing issues. The chart includes such color names as âEminent Domain,â as well as colors, which have been specifically matched to significant historic public housing structures like âRobert Taylor Homes Brick.â Each color name corresponds to a paragraph on the chart explaining its meaning and significance. Ziegler published 150,000 charts which were distributed free of charge. The paint colors are mixable, making it possible for anyone to paint his or her bedroom the color âEminent Domain.â (source)
I read about the project in the book Culture in Action. As I wrote in an earlier post, âpart of my research is on the impact of ephemeral projects. Iâm especially interested in how public art and community art practice (which is rarely discussed in urban planning) can have lasting effects.â
While itâs not at all clear what the longterm impact was on the tenants or dialogue on public housing, the artists were clearly changed by the project. They hadnât wanted it to be a âcharity projectâ and in fact proposed that the tenants council be âpaid a design fee by Sculpture Chicago for their work.â Yet, they also had to learn about the level of commitment a community art practice would entail.
[Ericson and Ziegler] had planned to conduct bimonthly meetings, perhaps in the format of a reading-discussion group, for the next six months in order to arrive at a design solution, but Council President Arrie Martin made it clear that such a schedule would dissipate efforts. If they were serious, the artists had better come and stay. The next month Ericson and Ziegler came for an extended period and worked intensively with the group on issues of economics, law, race, the history and philosophies behind public housing and housing in the United States.
For the residents, the main theme of the paint chart was âchoice.â Paint charts are not part of their lives; they have few opportunities for choice in their lives. In their housing, they always encounter CHA paint color #9 (see âAuthority Whiteâ); in their eduction and jobs, they find few options. Thus, the paint chart, as a device for choice, came to evoke the lack of options available to many who live in public housing.
The project sought to raise questions and consciousness. What do we know about those in America who live in public housing? Are their homes any less their own? Or is public housing at its very core a reflection of American ambivalence, whereby charity and capitalist enterprise clash?
The paint chart included short descriptions of the histories and people referenced by the names.
Blue Ribbon Panel. In 1908 the âBlue Ribbon Panelâ of President THeodore Rooseveltâs Housing Commission was organized to study slums in the United States and make recommendations as to what to do about them. Their findings outlined a need for housing reform, but no government action was taken. E123
Yorkship Village Slate. It took a war for the United States government to enact the first legislation that dealt with housing people. In 1918 the Emergency Fleet and U.S. Housing Corporation were formed to help provide the first publicly subsidized housing built in conjunction with the United States government. THe housing was for shipbuilding and defense industry workers. In 1918 Yorkship Village was built in Camden, New Jersey, to help house shipbuilders. It was subsidized by the Emergency Fleet Corporation. Today the development is called Fairview and the homes are privately owned. THey were sold soon after the war ended, with preference given to veterans. The color matches the slate roofs of the buildings at Yorkship Village. C132
Edith Elmer Wood Reform. Edith Elmer Wood became one of the most important advocates of housing reform in the 1920s and 1930s. Her countless studies and articles exposed many of the hidden deplorable conditions of tenement life and addressed the possibility for changing these conditions through the help of government legislation. B216
Knickerbocker Village. In 1932 Congress passed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act, which in turn created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). RFC loaned money at low interest to local governments for the purpose of creating jobs through investment. Though most of the money was borrowed by banks and railroads, Knickerbocker Village, a housing development in New York City, was built with RFC money. This color matches the brick at Knickerbocker Village. C307