The peril of hipster economics
When urban decay becomes a set piece to be remodelled or romanticised.
Last updated: 28 May 2014 08:03
Sarah Kendzior
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Called psychylustro, German artist Katharina Grosse's project is a large-scale work designed to distract Amtrak train riders from the dilapidated buildings and fallen factories of north Philadelphia. The city has a 28 percent poverty rate - the highest of any major US city - with much of it concentrated in the north. In some north Philadelphia elementary schools, nearly every child is living below the poverty line.
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"I need the brilliance of colour to get close to people, to stir up a sense of life experience and heighten their sense of presence," Grosse proclaims.
"People", in Grosse and Thomas's formulation, are not those who actually live in north Philadelphia and bear the brunt of its burdens. "People" are those who can afford to view poverty through the lens of aesthetics as they pass it by.
Urban decay becomes a set piece to be remodeled or romanticised. This is hipster economics...
