bergenstoop52011.JPG
The Times has fleshed out the story behind the large portraits of local shopkeepers that were pasted to stoops on Bergen Street between 4th and 5th avenues, and it turns out the installation was organized by a resident who is concerned that mom-and-pop businesses may be forced out of the Slope by Atlantic Yards. Dana Eskelson, an actress, got people on the block to participate in the Inside Out Project, which is the brainchild of Paris-based street artist JR. The artist was awarded $100,000 via the TED Prize for the project, which has an aim of “rallying communities and telling stories of the anonymous” via the photographs. Eskelson says the following about the subjects she wanted to highlight: “It’s really hard for their businesses to stay in our neighborhood because the stadium is coming.”
In Park Slope, Portrait Project Draws Block Together [NY Times]
Bergen Stoops Face Off [Brownstoner]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. big jugs- I am not her sidekick. I agree with her adn unlike you, MM presents her points clearly, completely and well thought out. Not that I expect someone with the handle “big jugs” to get that.

  2. As always, this is a pointless gesture that will accomplish absolutely nothing. Bad art, too. MM, stop hanging out with Norman Oder and learn to express a point in less than 500 words, if that’s possible. P.S. – love how your sidekick, bxgrl, is always at the ready to echo your droning lectures.

  3. But Bergen St. between 5th and Flatbush is a highly successful example of a recent retail remix. There are these great little stores, many with very accessible pricing structures. As cute as those stores are, I can’t see them appealing to the sports crowd. It would be so sad to see those spots taken over by fast food, etc. Is that section of Bergen landmarked? What’s to keep Pinchik from tearing everything they own down and building a mega-tower?

  4. yeah, no sympathy for “mom and pop” stores here. WTF does that mean anyway? if we were talking about a wal mart opening up here i might understand a little, but if the mom and pops can’t keep up with the changing needs of the community then they should STFU and move on.

    oh, and how painting faces on stoops is supposed to enlighten anyone to anything, and how it cost 100 grand, is beyond me.

    this whole discussion is stupid.

    and ROB, please stop using the phrase “jejune and puerile”. you use it everytime you want to sound smart and take a dump on something. big words do not automatically mean you are taking the high road. you are still a jejune and puerile person.

  5. Talk about self-fulfilling propaganda!
    So now the Arena is going to be the cited cause for every crappy “mom&pop” store closing in the Boro of Brooklyn???

    Any retail business that thinks MORE foot traffic is somehow bad for business – is a store that DESERVES to close.

  6. Brenda, I’m pretty sure 100k was the entirety of the grant given by TED to JR for his worldwide project – the woman here was suggesting that people use the TED project to bring attention to their local cause – which I think was JR’s point.

  7. $100k? That would have given at least a few merchants seed money to relocate or something…I just wonder how many people are going to pass the ‘faces’ project and “get it” without benefit of an artists’ statement (of which I’m sure TED et al have a magnificent specimen posted somewhere).