Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, June 29, 2010
Architecture The Great Red Wall of Capitol Hill
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 3:17 PM
The wall surrounding the construction site for Capitol Hill's future light rail station is certainly one of the area's most impressive works of architecture:
1
Man, it's as boring as that Christo orange banner garbage they show in those commercials.
Then again, it's way better than any of the garbage that people tag in this city - 99.9999 percent of all taggers in Seattle have ZERO artistic ability.
Then again, it's way better than any of the garbage that people tag in this city - 99.9999 percent of all taggers in Seattle have ZERO artistic ability.
5
i noticed that too and was gonna do something but i was drunk and stoned at the time, pissed on it and forgot about it. how tall is it? was it 30 feet or my imagination? a nice red 30-50 foot plywood wall is neat. thanks for this note
6
I'll buy that, Charles. It's probably better art than that which will adorn it later this year....
11
I agree with you. To me, the wall's 'architect' is saying the following to the passers-by:
"Look, times are tough. There just isn't any money to be spent on anything other than the most utilitarian of structures. (You do know how much this transit thing is all costing, right?) But I know the wall is going to be around a long time, so I'll balance out its imposing nature with a hue of red that makes you think of, say, brick. It won't fool your eyes, but you might feel better. More traditional. More grounded. And hey, this is a rail project after all, so I'll choose a red that recalls, say, Victoria Station in London. I'll even throw in a street sign or two that recall a standard British font — I read somewhere that you hipsters have a thing for Helvetica — to make the translation a bit more complete. Now have a good day, and thanks for letting me get away with this wall."
"Look, times are tough. There just isn't any money to be spent on anything other than the most utilitarian of structures. (You do know how much this transit thing is all costing, right?) But I know the wall is going to be around a long time, so I'll balance out its imposing nature with a hue of red that makes you think of, say, brick. It won't fool your eyes, but you might feel better. More traditional. More grounded. And hey, this is a rail project after all, so I'll choose a red that recalls, say, Victoria Station in London. I'll even throw in a street sign or two that recall a standard British font — I read somewhere that you hipsters have a thing for Helvetica — to make the translation a bit more complete. Now have a good day, and thanks for letting me get away with this wall."
13
It is very Christo. The choice of red is strange in my opinion. Most barriers of this sort tend to be purely utilitarian. If any color is chosen at all, it's usually something muted and unobtrusive. Here there's this rich red that calls to mind the color of brick. It evokes expectation and dynamism.
14
why don't they just have a bunch of little kids come in and paint on it? surely they can come up with something better than this.
16
A powerful juxtaposition of the red wall upon the green landscape. Both colours project the vitality of two kingdoms of life. The wall is the force of blood - a living element. "I live, and I will die," boldly proclaimed. This new wall is a fully mature wall - but perfectly young, with none of the wear and tear that occurs over adult life. Over time it will suffer the abuse of life: elements, random drunks, vermin, bird shit. In two years' time, the wall will stand weary - just as tall as it started, but slouching in spirit. A testament to temporality. And at the end of its life it will stand resigned but accomplished in its worth as a protector of the incubating light rail station. Death will be a joyous moment for the wall, for his progeny will meet and serve the world better than the wall had.
17
It won't be long before some juvenile douchebag with a spraycan and no artistic sense defiles it with their "tag" only to then have the fucktarded hipster wannabe's then call that visual blight art.
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