Foreclosure Facade
Foreclosure Facade
After the economic crash of 2008 we fabricated a series of foreclosed building facades to be exhibited in the streets as a counterpart to the curatorial and gallery installation work we were doing at the time. These boarded-up facades were designed to function politically in context but were also intended to further a commentary we aimed at relational aesthetics.
In a political context they were created to solve a simple design question: how to force a cognitive connection between the hundreds of thousands of homes being foreclosed and the banks that are responsible.
As a commentary on art these were intended to make visible that which is exterior to or beyond the participatory “inclusionary” art platform that was becoming more and more popular in the socially engaged art scene.
Location #1
At a large march on Wall Street after the bank bailout. The piece functioned as stage, backdrop, and platform from which homeowners facing foreclosure could communicate their stories to the public and to the media.
Location #2
In Washington D.C., where we worked with 100 underwater homeowners from across the country to transform the doorstep and lawn in front of the Department Of Justice into a platform for elevating stories of foreclosures.
Collaborators
National People's Action, Home Defenders League, Occupy Homes
Date
March 8, 2015
