On Memory: Design Brigade Week 10.
One final reflection.
Reflections from Intern Group 1: Moving Beyond Design Brigade
By Hana Davis, Ally Soong, Mari Kroin, and Yeqin Zhu
This past Monday, we met with Devin Avshalom-Smith and representatives from the Department of Cultural Affairs. We discussed how Devin and Adriane can work together on next steps for this project, including forming an advisory committee of community members. We sincerely hope that through this committee and the resulting partnerships, the relationships and outreach that began this summer will continue throughout the lifespan of this memorial project.
We’ve been through many ups and downs in these past ten weeks — at times invigorated by the flow of conversations and ideas, but at times feeling honestly despirited by our limitations. We have tried our best to lean into the uncomfortable discussions, to dissolve our assumptions, and to reimagine our role in the community of New Haven. This summer has taught us a lot about this city we inhabit as students, about processes of building trust and relationships, and about ourselves as aspiring artists and architects.
As we transition off of this project, we know we are leaving it in good hands with Adriane and the Department of Cultural Affairs. We’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to meet with us, whether as an outside advisor, or as someone with a personal stake in this project. The stories we’ve heard, the conversations we’ve had on diversity, race and inclusivity, and the dedication each individual has to their communities have inspired and humbled us every step of the way.
Updates from Intern Group 2: A Non-Prescriptive Guidebook
By Zishi Li, and Abraham Mora-Valle
The design of the guidebook has been progressing steadily. After some additional meeting over the past weekend with the group 1 interns, we have been constantly passing layout back and forth and tracking edits for the final contents lately.
Today we managed to have a review for the first version of this guidebook with Celia Poirier, our beloved mentor from Atelier Cho Thompson with expertise in graphic design.
Handing the project off to the City
We cannot emphasize enough the importance of engaging the people of New Haven from this fundamental stage onwards. For the duration of the Design Brigade internship, we have been pondering the difference between designing “for” and designing “with” the city, and a key part of this aspiration involves the establishment of an Advisory Committee.
The Advisory Committee for the Covid-19 Memorial will be composed of community leaders of New Haven residents, representatives from the Department of Cultural Affairs, and representatives from the Design Brigade. This action is essential to the development of the COVID-19 Memorial Art Park, as the committee ensures that representatives of the three stakeholder branches all have decision-making power over this park. The Committee is tasked with coordinating the creation of the Covid-19 Memorial and upholding the values of accountability, transparency, and equanimity.
Starting members of the project’s Advisory Committee are:
- Devin Avshalom-Smith (New Haven resident community)
- Adrianne Jefferson (Department of Cultural Affairs)
- Ming Thompson (Design Brigade)
The starting members are responsible for adding new members to their own branch. The branches are expected to be in constant dialogue when allocating tasks and pushing the project forward. While each of the branches has its own areas of expertise and unique ways to contribute to this memorial project, all members of the advisory committee should be informed of what is happening among each branch. For example, community leaders should be involved in design reviews, and design consultants should be able to engage the city government through the Department of Cultural Affairs.
The two pieces of information we are passing along to the city is the guidebook and a document of internal resources.
A Summary of Further Readings
‘Art became the Oxygen’, by US Department of Arts and Culture.
‘How Architecture Could Help Us Adapt to the Pandemic,’ Kim Tingley. New York Times.
Artwork by Candy Chang — http://candychang.com/
It’s Time to Define What “Good” Means in Our Industry. Design Observer.
‘The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus,’ New York Times.
“The Value of Public Art,” by Marissa Mead.
“Monuments and Memorials,” The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook
“The ‘Black Lives Matter’ Street Art That Contains Multitudes,” by Julia Jacobs. The New York Times.
‘What’s Behind the COVID-19 Racial Disparity?’ The Atlantic.
“What is Missing?’ by Maya Lin
‘What will the covid-19 memorial look like?’ The Washington Post.
