Two days after arriving in Pittsburgh I packed up my bags for a second scout of the city.  Leaving Morgantown after what hardly felt like enough time to deconstruct what this project might look like, piece together a rough website, and convince myself that we had the perfect game plane, I spent the 1.5 hour drive up back to Pittsburgh in what I like to call “my space”.  Quiet, reserved, and in my head.  This is a dangerous place to be.

Patriotic Basketball with No Trespassing Sign

Arriving in the city with an ETA of 9:30 with half an overhead projector.  Spak Pizza overflowed with an audience ripe for performance.  The space itself, a large, abandoned wall dead center across the street from Spak.  Two young pine trees planted – designed – along the sidewalk.  Apart from the cars lined in front it wasn’t too bad.  There was free parking but nobody considered the height of a projector.  Do I hold it?  Back to the half a projector missing from the case.  A blessing in disguise. After a group huddle, grunt, groan, table of pints … I settled on the notion that not all spaces want to be spoken for.  This is what dress rehearsals are for.

I tell Ryan he underestimates how flexible an artist I am.  He fidgets with his blackberry.  I underestimate how determined an artist he is.  He finds a new projector in Toledo.  He is a GOD.  After a night of sleep and a restful morning in Pittsburgh we are back on the road to Detroit.

I consider, and consider again, the reality that this is a project about space.  About the immediacy of space, about deterioration, about privacy and the public.  About regeneration, and the variety of relationships we develop with and around space.  As artists, the project also reflects the choice to work in the now.  Without permits or permission.  By the time I arrive in Pittsburgh, I am feeling the impact of this decision, in planning and purpose.  Working with friends and collaborators and the struggle to compromise style and modality while working within the constraints of immediate planning.  When I think about the time line of this project, I am relieved to think of the benefits of space and its longevity.

Questions: How to write the character of a space, rather than the deterioration of a place that no longer exists?