On the telephone the other day, I ended up staring at this: 72 Rivington Street, the new HQ of design agency Young Creatives Network.
In the window is a display of piled books by Anna Lomax and Lauren Davies of Jiggery Pokery:
What's great about the location is that a genius(ish) has decided to turn the downstairs of the building in to a public space and offer a lending library.
A few years ago, I worked with a group of community activists in the town of Castleford, England and turned this empty furniture store:
in to a white-walled, wannabe Saatchi gallery:
The refurbishment was supported by several public agencies, including Arts Council England, English Partnerships (now the Homes and Communities Agency), Wakefield Council and social welfare charity the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
The space has since been enjoyed by thousands of people and hosted art exhibitions of work by artists like Cuban Carlos Garaicoa and local abstract painter Blue Wilson:
The U.K. Government recently launched a programme to revitalize vacant retail units on recession-hit High Streets and turn them over to community uses.
This is great. The space in Castleford cost just £25,000 (USD$40,000) to refurbish, has now been extended to a property next door and has a permanent member of staff.
But the important thing raised by YCN is that private, as well as public places and spaces can be turned towards hosting and delivering different kinds of public experience.
Some empty stores in the U.K. are now being turned over to community services, like policing and children's learning - and I'm helping a chef turn an old carpet shop in to a co-operative, grocery store.
But the idea of turning what could be any old foyer or exhibition space in to a public lending library is a brilliant one.
Main street recession, mutualism and pop-up anything and everything suggests these kind of practical, public-facing, can-do projects are about to have their moment.
Question is, who's brave enough to go the whole way, commit to a supposedly "post-selfish" age and say, turn a disused branch of Woolworths in to a shop, use the income to buy the upstairs and turn the entire building in to a Christiana-style Danish commune?
It's been done countless times before.
Tempted? Visit Wanna Start a Commune?
Images courtesy of Guy Archard and YCN.
