Temporary structure at a Downtown Flint parking lot. Flint, MI, USA, 2013
“Stage a lot” is a constantly transformative intervention responding to the call for a temporary structure from the Flint Public Art Project. “Stage a lot” invents a ballet of ropes and pulleys animating four suspended rectangular pieces of white tyvek that in a neutral position hang vertically forming a topless cube. Engaging with the large scale, that of the city, the vehicles and their speed, it allows for a microscale of human activity to reside in its polyvalent interiors.
Operating with the motto: function follows transformation, “Stage a lot” aspires to allow every single activity to push and pull the ropes of the cube and transform it according to the needs for privacy, shade, seating, etc. Claiming the latent theatricality of the place in a Venturian way, “Stage a lot” is a sign -a stage for the city- and a shed -a stage for the people- and after all, a program condenser.
We imagine an open air cinema operating within the interior of the cube or inverting itself to expand in a 4 screen multi-projection activating the field around it. A concert will be hosted under the suspended folds of the canopy, a market will expand bellow the triangular horizontal sails that provide maximum shading. The finishing line of the marathon or a bike race will find itself under the most open and exploded instance, an Art-Fair or a Car-Show will inscribe themselves under the overarching folds and pleats of one of the iterations.
Parking space during the day, event space during the night. A different form will promise and announce a different happening at the Flat Lot allowing for the anticipation from the city of: how will it look next? interweaved with what will happen there next?
