Art, aesthetics, the poor and homeless in urban space.

A detailed Summary of Art, aesthetics, the poor and homeless in urban space.

The Smith article "Homeless/global; scaling places" is about space and scale. These are things essential to every person in the world as we all physically inhabit and utilise spaces. Smith speaks of space at scales of body, home, community, urban, regional, national and global. He suggests space as meaningfully separate and opposed to time based meaning, which has long been recognised as meaningful and political. Smith claims that space has been belittled and neglected and that language sufficient to express the changing and dynamic empowered natures of space are insufficient and stagnating rather than liberating and appropriate.

Smith in his article relates examples of homelessness and space in the New York urban environment through the Tompkins square park riots (around late 1980's) and the Homeless Vehicle designed by Krzytof Wodiczko. These examples encompass modification, re-claiming, representation and creation of space and serve to bring together art, aesthetics, the poor and homeless in urban space.

Scale as well as space is produced in socially constructed ways and involves levels of body, community, region, and nation. Smith suggests four aspects the social interconnectedness of scales to be;

The homeless and urban poor have radically different experiences of space in terms of the home, which exists in the urban environment without having permanent walls a home as such. The nature of privacy that most take for granted as constituting home is often lacking; being physically surround and protected is difficult and often fluctuating. There may be boxing and other materials used but these are temporary and not included in the capitalist economy where if not owned have rent due or paid for the 'home'. "The squatters and the homeless are on the front lines of the struggle against repression"(p97, Smith, 1993). By this I believe Smith refers to their reclaiming of space for living in and their presence as an assertion to the changing nature of space and questioning of public and private/ ownership. It is not time and history alone that produce space but 'political contests over the production of scale' (p97, Smith, 1993). The homeless are particularly aware of space as they live in a different space to those who inhabit houses or economically owned space or pay rent. Space has different meanings for the individual and homeless community and surrounding region. Gentrification aesthetic issues, such as clearing the park of the homeless, are recognisably political in nature and reflect upon uses of space and in particular ownership of space and rights to space in a capitalist society. It is those with capital who attempt to govern and own the so-called public space.

(p101, Smith, 1993)

In conclusion art, aesthetics, the poor and homeless are brought together in urban space through struggles for space, meanings and uses of space breaching scale, assertion of identity and borders. Recognition of the changing nature of space and scale within the New York urban environment is meaningful and political and warrants consideration as such. Space can be used for inclusion or constraint, liberation or oppression and can be expressed through expressions and understandings of art and aesthetics.

The riots in response to attempts to remove the homeless and squatters involved graffiti, which while considered art by some, is often equated, especially by pro-gentrification developers, as an anti-aesthetic. Graffiti, a threat to taste and beauty and real estate value. The graffiti made direct comments on the riots, gentrification, displacement and financial crash of the year before (Smith, 1993) as well as highlighting the social purpose of art. This reflects the importance of space and displacement and the connection people feel

Some common words found in the essay are:
Park Living, Homeless Vehicle, Macquarie Dictionary, Square Park, Krzytof Wodiczko, , Tompkins Park, Urban York, Tompkins Park-, Vietnam Smith, smith 1993, poor homeless, homeless poor, urban environment, space scale, urban space, homeless vehicle, tompkins square park, real estate, art aesthetics, homeless urban, changing nature space, aesthetics poor homeless, space scale space, art aesthetics poor,

Approximate Word count = 1766
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts