Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. “The history of the work of the dead is a history of how they dwell among us – individually and communally. It is a history of how we imagine them to be, how they give meaning to our lives, how they structure public spaces, politics, and time.Continue reading “Narratives of Disappearance”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Perception of Value
Just as interesting as what we preserve, I am fascinated by the efforts to reconsider that which was once preserved by a previous generation, and now, removed by the present generation. What about our perception of value has changed? How did these considerations of value and social capital shift? What are we left with when perceptions shift?Continue reading “Perception of Value”
A life with things: #2 Sports Equipment
Our backyard was always very well kept. It felt desolate and full of aspirations, but I was only a small kid – what did I know. I knew what to expect on Saturday mornings. At 7:00am my Dad would come in and pull the covers off of me and my two brothers with a loudContinue reading “A life with things: #2 Sports Equipment”
A life with things: #1 Sears Tower Erector Set
The living room faced south. Except for one window, it was a box with vacuous white walls. The window, proudly identified by my parents as a “picture window”, occupied an entire wall. Standing outside, picturesquely assymetric in its placement, stood a large maple tree. The leaves of the tree used to turn, like ruby affectationsContinue reading “A life with things: #1 Sears Tower Erector Set”
Freedom of Speculation
The question in my mind is whether a natural inclination for speculation removes one to a place outside of the possibility for “doing”? At what point is the critical observer no longer able to engage in the very thing that he/she observes?
The Beauty of the Undefined
Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. “I can’t paint what I dream because I paint memorandum of my dreams…I have so many dreams about angels. I paint imitations of angels just as I imagined them. I do not paint an angel, because they come from the throne of God. We can get theContinue reading “The Beauty of the Undefined”
What would your historic house museum look like?
It is impossible to target just one state, one emotional moment in which we can draw a “period of interpretation”. As my videos (below) show, I am constantly changing my living environment, changing my emotional state, adding and subtracting experiences to what defines me – How would you tell your story? Which era?Continue reading “What would your historic house museum look like?”
Preservation, Demolition, Destruction, Decay and Death
Photographs used for educational and non-commercial purposes only. This is a new thread of investigation – In what ways does “preservation” help us avoid death? How does the purity of our preservation efforts directly reflect personal feelings of loss? Our world is in a continuous process of demolition (Pruitt Igo Housing demolition), destruction (ISISContinue reading “Preservation, Demolition, Destruction, Decay and Death”
The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums: Evaluation Methodology for Historic House Museums
The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums: Evaluation Methodology for Historic House Museums Franklin Vagnone, Deborah Ryan, and Olivia Cothren ‘‘Don’t you want to preserve old things?’’ ‘‘Trying to preserve a century by keeping its relics up to date is like keeping a dying man alive by stimulants.’’ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and DamnedContinue reading “The Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums: Evaluation Methodology for Historic House Museums”
“You are an idiot!”
Moments before my lecture began, I snapped a picture of the crowd at the Thomas Cole Historic Site. This past weekend I was asked to give two public lectures in upstate New York. One was at Clermont Historic House in Germantown, NY and the other at the Thomas Cole Historic site in the nearby townContinue reading ““You are an idiot!””
Twisted Preservation 