First, a quick history: Through the Percent for Artprogram of a federal Department of Transportation streetscaping grant, the cityof Milwaukeeheld a nationwide search for proposals in 2006. A large, highly distinguishedcommittee of civic leaders chose Zweig from three finalists in 2007. Sherefined her proposal through several presentations in 2008 and was awarded thecommission. A short controversy, such as has met every major public art projectthe city has undertaken, erupted in April 2009, but by May the work was back ontrack.
The design, which can be viewed on Zweig’s Web site(janetzweig.com), is beautiful and highly original. Each lamppost will hold anelegant, hexagonal kiosk presenting computer-operated flip-card animations ineach of the three sides facing the sidewalk. The animations, motion-activatedby pedestrians, will be shown on 1950s-era railway station flap signs, stillused in some train stations in the world to announce the arrival and departureof trains. It took Zweig a year to persuade an Italian company, nowadays theonly manufacturer in the world of flap signs, to custom-build the mechanismswith 60 flaps, instead of the usual 40, for added length and detail.
The animated images will be rendered on the cards inblack and white and set into black metal frames, covered by glass and lightedat night. They are modest in size, and attached to the black harp lampposts ateasy eye level. The railroad reference is nostalgic: I remember the childhoodthrill of arriving from my hometown of Fond du Lac at the great Chicago and North Western stationthat once stood across the street from the installation site.
Zweig was actually born in Milwaukee, but her family had moved by thetime she was 3 and she remembers nothing of her first years here. She isworking hard to know the city now. It’s fundamental to her vision that this bea true Milwaukee artwork, so she is involving as much of the community aspossible in determining and executing the content of the animations, choosingimages and stories that speak with humor and mystery about some of our widelyshared experiences.
Through an online contest this fall, 110Milwaukeeans contributed more than 275 ideas for animations, and Zweig recentlychose 36 winners to share $15,000 in honorariums. She’s also held meetings andsmall group “salon conversations” with some 20 of the city’s many accomplishedvisual and performing artists, writers and cultural movers to solicit theirinput. These relationships are expanding and deepening.
Three artists have been assisting her more closelyas sounding boards and facilitators. They are choreographer Debra Loewen ofWild Space Dance Company, known for her original, site-specific dance dramas;director and educator Rebecca Holderness of UW-Milwaukee’s BFA acting programwho is well-versed in contemporary performance creation; and myself, aplaywright comfortable with nontraditional performance situations and localsubjects.
A lot of our work has simply involved grasping thechallenges of the technology, which requires, among other bewilderments, thateach 7.5-second sequence end at the starting point, ready for the nextactivation. Images can jump from panel to panel. It’s very much a work inprogress, but Zweig is considering using our city’s relationship to weather asone organizing principle. One kiosk might reflect the need for shelter fromblustery rain, others the drudgery of snow, the bloom of spring, the languidsummer, the wistful fall. Each must be visually stunning, surprising andmemorable.
Zweig is currently drawing storyboards inpreparation for citywide casting, rehearsals and filming; the film will beedited and transferred to the flap cards. Zweig stresses that only 20% of thecost of this federally funded program comes from the city of Milwaukeeand that money will be given backto Milwaukeeans. She is scrupulous that all of the funds contributed by thecity be returned through the contest honoraria, performers’ fees, costs offilming and the fabrication and installation of the kiosks. Adam Brown andFranklyn Berry,whose local company, AFX Sign Effectz, has worked with Zweig on past projects,will do the latter.
