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Gitte
Villesen
Text
from the four collages which belongs to the piece 'The Building
- The Bikeshop - Andy's furnitures'
The Building collage
The Organic
Food Club One
Tuesday each month, a truck brings organic food for members of the
Food Club. Delivery is included with purchases of more than $700,
which is no problem considering how many people are involved with
The Building, or who live nearby.
Connie, whoās married to Dan, is one of the people behind the Food
Club.
Community Gardens
The
first day I was there, a new garden user came in from the street
and asked if he could have a piece of land. The only rule for using
the Community Gardens is that they have to be farmed 100% organic.
The Gardens are used by Dan and his family, and people that live
in the area.
Mr. Wong
Mr. Wong has been in The Building since the '70s. He's a mechanic,
and when Kenn Dunn had a recycling centre in The Building, it was
Mr. Wong that repaired all their vehicles.
Allan and the
metal workshop
For the last 3 years Dan has wanted a metal workshop in the house,
so he and Jack from Big Fish Furniture started collecting machines
and tools. Allan came to The Building because he wanted to teach
himself to make moulds, but didn't have anywhere to do it.
Allan's plan is to learn to make moulds from some books that present
the process in minute detail. The books teach a slow, thorough method
to mould and cast machine parts; parts which later will be assembled
into machines which will be used in the metal workshop that Allan
will eventually start.
The books are written by an old craftsman who knew his craft and
remembered every single detail, but didn't have any experience writing
textbooks, so the books have no index, and some of the chapters
are written out as long series of associations which include his
experiences, tips and facts.
Allan is usually working on the project until late at night. During
the day he works as a computer programmer.
Education
Laurie Palmer, who teaches at The School of the Art Institute of
Chicago, holds her class each week in The Buildingās co-operative
kitchen. While I was there, she brought in Greg Sholette (among
others) to lecture about his projects.
When the garden was moved, her students arranged the transport of
the compost heap as part of an art project. It was also one of her
students that provided me with a map of The Building.
Big Fish Funiture
Jake has a furniture company which mostly produces book cases, beds
and writing tables. They have a standard design which can be adjusted
according to the needs of their customers.
Once in a while parents of local kids who are having problems in
school come by to ask if their kids can work at the furniture workshop.
As a rule, Jake and the parents share the costs of the kids salaries.
Monk Parakeet
Monk Parakeet refers to all art related activities in The Building.
Among other things, my own and other artistsā visits to the guest
studio. Besides the guest studio, Monk Parakeet is responsible for
various art arrangements that are either organised by Dan or people
who have made an arrangement with Dan.
For a few years Brett Bloom had the studio that Andy now uses as
a furniture workshop. From this office he produced a number of art
projects/arrangements.
Dan's Studio
Aksel
Aksel, one of Dan and Connie's sons, has small projects going on
all over The Building and the Gardens.
The Baffler
The editorial staff of The Baffler has their office in The Building.
The Writer
The Writer was really busy when I visited The Building, so I only
saw him a few times. He was working on a large project that heād
received funding for to create a better environment for the residents
of a large housing complex which had been given up on, and which
was plagued with poverty, unemployment and criminality.
Ken Dunn
Ken Dunn, who sold the building to Dan, has been running recycling
projects and centres since the '70s.
The Resource
Center
Sukai's farm
Sukai's farm is next to the recycling area. He was given a little
corner of The Resource Centre's land by Ken, and he uses it to harvest
tomatoes. One of Ken's projects is to make gardens on unused parcels
of land all over the city; gardens where local residents can meet
to harvest vegetables and plant flowers. Ken supplies the gardens
with compost from the recycling centre. Compost which The Resource
Centre makes out of garden refuse from universities and larger companies.
Tyner
Tyner is homeless. He hangs out in the Creative Reuse Warehouse's
wood yard with a little group of homeless people.
Free Dinner
Every Friday there's a free dinner at Creative Reuse Warehouse.
The Bikeshop
Andy's funitures
While working with bikes over the last 10 years, Andy has also been
making furniture out of bike parts. In the start he only worked
with used bike parts. Today he also uses defective or outdated parts
supplied by the manufacturer, which are donated to him or traded
for furniture. The Building - The Bikeshop
The Bikeshop
collages
'Bikeshop -
Blakestone Bicycle Works
BBW
is a subsidiary of The Resource Center, Chicago's oldest and largest
not-for-profit recycler. The bike shop grew out of a need to utilize
the abundance of bikes encountered in the waste stream and from
a desire to explore avenues of alternative education in the local
community.
BBW's
revenue comes from sales of recycled bicycles as well as new bike
parts and accessories, bicycle repair, individual donations, grants,
and memberships. Donations
are tax deductable.'
Quoted
from the Bicycle Works business card
Ken Dunn from
Resource Center got the idea for the Bicycle Works 6 years ago and
rented a workshop space in the building he'd just sold to Dan Peterman.
The shop has two purposes: to recycle bicycles and to function as
a place where the kids in the area can come and hang out while they
learn a trade.
Andy has, from the start, been employed by Ken to run the workshop
and to teach the kids.
Gitte: Has
this place been like this from the beginning?
Andy:
Yes, we make it up as we go along. It was a lot different 6 years
ago.
Gitte: How was it then?
Andy: Well it was harder, we didn't have as many rules, the kids
have gotten nicer...
Gitte: Because of the rules or just because they have gotten nicer?
Andy: I think they have gotten used to us, also more things are
in place. It's very stuck! (Andy is talking about the bike he's
working on. He works a while in silence.)
Gitte: Do you think that a lot of the kids working here will keep
on working with bikes?
Andy: Some of them will. Depends on what they're into, what their
friends do. This is nice, just that (Andy unscrews a little sign
on an old bike that will be thrown out as soon as all the usable
parts have been removed.)
Gitte: To use for something, or just...?
Andy: I don't know, we'll set it up here for the time being. The
chain is still good. UV, you can put this on your bike.
UV: Yeah
Gitte: How long have you been working here?
Derek: Three
years.
Gitte: Are you working regularly?
Derek: Yeah, I am one of the paid employed.
Gitte: So you are one of the skilled people.
Derek: Yeah Gitte: Do you like it?
Derek: Yeah I like it.
Gitte: How many hours do you work?
Derek: Hmm, when school is on, like two or three hours a day, but
in the summer time we work like 7 hours a day.
Gitte: 7 hours a day?! Oh that's really a lot. (It's just about
closing time, so Derek starts taking the bikes in from out front,
one by one.)
Gitte: When did you start to get paid here? And how long time were
you here before you get paid?
Derek: Two y...I was working here... and in the summer they needed
someone and then they talked to my grandmother and I got to be a
paid employee.
Gitte: Ok. Is this here so that people come and use the tools?
Derek: Yeah, kids come up a lot to fix their own bikes and stuff.
So that they don't come and ask for tools all the time, we have
a collection of tools out here.
Derek, while
repairing a bike.
Derek:
I had one like that, but it broke (Derek points to the wheel of
a customer's bike)
Coustomer: How did it break?
Derek: I was jumping up a ramp. Customer: Then you must have been
jumping pretty high!
Derek:Yeah.
Gitte: Is it your bike? (I point at the bike Derek is repairing)
Derek: Yes, that one too (Derek points at a bike behind him)
Gitte: Where do you ride it, on the streets, or...?
Derek: Everywhere
Gitte: Everywhere, ok. You broke it doing tricks?
Derek: Yeah, I was jumping up a ramp ... and we had been laying
it up to get it real high with a lot of trash and then I landed
right on the edge like this.
Gitte: Ohh!!
A customer
points out the photo on the wall of Malcom X.
Andy has been
photographing the kids working in the shop for a while, both at
work and at parades and races. A selection of the pictures is hanging
on the wall in the shop.
UV just described
a 4 month long bike tour he was on in Brazile, Uruguay, Argentina
and Chile.
UV: I am studying Spanish at home, so I don't forget the little
bit I learned during this trip, so that I maybe can go back and
maybe start a business or figure out a way to stay.
Gitte: A bike business or...?
UV: Ideally something like this, but if it ...if it comes down to
ehh just a business for profit, a cafe or something like that, I
will do it. But I would prefer something like this.
Gitte: Where you will try to work with kids that you will train
like you're are doing here?
UV: Yeah I could do the same thing, yeah!
Gitte: How long have you been here?
UV: A little over 2 years now.
Gitte: So were you into bikes before you came here?
UV: Yeah, I was, but not too long. Three years prior to working
here I was a bike messager Gitte: Uhhum.
UV: Before I was a bike messenger I just had a bike for transportation
and I would take good care of it, but then while I was working as
a bike messenger I ehh learned to fix my bike just to keep my costs
down... Gitte: Yes.
UV: Then I went down here one day and they needed somebody, and
I wanted to get out of the courier business, so then I've been working
here and it's one of the best jobs I ever had.
Gitte: Why?
UV: Because I enjoy coming here, I look forward to the first day
of the work week - I wake up and think "oh yeah! I'm gonna work..."
Gitte: Because of the atmosphere in the bike shop or...?
UV: Yeah, I have a lot of pride in my job. It's a job that I can
say that in general helps people; it's not a very selfish job. I'm
not making a lot of money, ehh, we don't make a lot of money, we
don't have fancy clothes or we...
Andy: Hey, speak for yourself!
UV:
Heh heh, but this is definitely the best job I have had, I have
never felt like this about a job before, I really enjoyed messengering
but that got a little old. Just working with kids, having a relationship
with these good kids, it is almost like not working, it's like hanging
out. Right now there is not a lot of work, it's really mellow. I
like that too, that there are periods where it is really relaxing
and that there are periods that are really busy. Gitte: Yeah, thanks
a lot (for the interview).
UV: I can babble a lot. I never...ehh, I always ehh ... my communications
skills are very bad. When I am yelling at kids I guess it comes
out very easily.
Gitte: I don't think it is too bad.
UV: That's because you are a foreigner heh heh...
The bike workshop
has just received a donation, a new tool closet.
UV has begun
experimenting with different ways of using used bike parts to make
jewelry. This bracelet is for his girlfriend.
The Dan
Peterman collage
Dan Peterman
Dan has been in the house for the last 12 years. In the beginning,
he worked for the Resource Centre, which owned the building at that
time. Around 5 or 6 years ago, Dan took over the house and the surrounding
property. Since then, the building has been used more and more for
various kinds of projects. Dan is an artist, and has his studio
in the building.
On one side of The Building there's The University of Chicago. On
the other side a neighbourhood primarily made up of minority groups.
The area is developing. For a long time there were run down, burned
out houses here, but the majority of them have been torn down, and
the land set aside for new building complexes that are either already
finished or on their way. The poorest people here are being forced
out of their homes as the area slowly changes from a lower class
black neighbourhood into a black middle class neighbourhood.
Brett Bloom
is also an artist and has previously had an office in The Building.
He brought a friend to show him around.
Dan: So there's a variety of projects that have, you know, hopefully
have a nice relation from one to the next. So that we try to rebuild
a community in a way, but not with a central ideal. There's like
different sorts of structures but... So, you know, there's spaces
like this, which is my studio. There's a wood shop, which is a for
profit business. There's a mechanic who's been here since the seventies
who used to repair the recycling vehicles, he runs a little business
out of the garage. There's the Baffler magazine that's produced
here, there's a writer from the studio, and another office for a
kind of work related project that he co-ordinates that deals with
public housing and the broader...
And then this kind of ongoing art structure of, for example, Brett
was here for a couple of years with headquarters with his Dispensing
With Formalities ecosphere in the visiting artists space which was
the idea to kind of create the space and then just see what it develops
into. And then the bigger spaces in the front, and then there's
a little upstairs sort of gallery type space.
Brett: Is Sterling's project still upstairs?
Dan: No they turned him down last week.
Brett: Oh that's too bad.
Dan: So all of that is just kind of designed for maximum flexibility,
the kitchen as well, so that for events, which could be anything
from you know, workshops to exhibitions to you know the big space
could be just simply work space. The project that Brett did with
Nicholas, you know, he came down and set up shop, he and his mom.
For a couple of weeks.
Brett: Totally exploited his mothers' labour.
Dan: We're trying to get the structure here, and have it self sustaining,
you know, everybody contributes rent, there's a little corporation
behind this that just maintains the building and the space. Everybody,
including myself, pays rent to try to keep it together.
And then uh, and then it's just try to see how things develop, but
without putting a strict plan out in front and saying "now we're
this" kind of thing. It's just kind of letting it foster different
sorts of activities, and letting it kind of evolve.
So anyway, you know, you can walk around the building and kind of
look at things - I don't know if Jake is here, um, right now. But
part of the two has always been driven by my own selfish interests
like, what as an artist makes the most interesting place to be,
and it's not necessarily a building that's chopped into cubicles
with an artist in each one.
You know it's different sets of relations and different kinds of
production. There's also, you know, the bike shop, which I think
I mentioned. And the garden, as well. And the co-op van.
Brett: So what's happening with...
Dan's studio
Monk Parakeet
Visiting residency
Community Garden
The Bikeshop
Andy's furniture
workshop
Big Fish Furniture
The Kitchen
'The new football
field'
Second floor:
The Gallery
Allan's metal
workshop
Mr. Wong
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