bi (k)o garden at 4Culture for parking day

Melissa Glenn and Matt Inpanbutr of SHKS Architects bring their aLIVe project Bi (k)o Garden to 4Culture as part of the AIA Seattle Design Festival and Parking Day in downtown Seattle. The “garden” is an elegant, sculptural form that occupies the footprint of a typical parking space.  Within that car-sized rectangle, a slim slot houses a retro looking bike – an effective visual reminder of how much room is devoted to parking in modern American cities.  The garden uses plant materials and construction techniques found in green roof and bio filtration systems, offering a poetic avenue for pondering the connection between paved surface run-off and water quality. They’ll be installing the 15th in front of our building. Friday, September 16th is Parking Day. 

storming the sound conference: oh yes

A week ago we took the aLIVe project to Storming the Sound, a day-long conference for educators and activists who are working to preserve and restore Puget Sound, hosted by the Seattle Art Museum. The thread of infrastructure and runoff water that contribute to poisoning this great resource connected aLIVe to the attendees. There were great keynotes, giving an overview of the state of the Sound and activism on its behalf. I wish I could have attended all the breakout sessions. In our presentation to about 20 folks the video embedded in our Powerpoint presentation was a no-go (universal media file, you are my dream). Instead, we used the time to hear from everyone in the room. What was their interest and connection to the Sound, and how might they use the approaches of the artists in aLIVe in their work? Fantastic. Never has a Fail Whale given so much back. From a scientist studying orcas who has identified runoff water as the most poisonous and dangerous thing in the orca’s environment to graduate students, classroom educators and activists, the stories added up to passion, reflection and connection. At the end of the session people were exchanging business cards, deep in conversation and energized. We felt so lucky to be in the room with them all. 

aLIVe artists are beginning to finish up their projects.  Johnnie Olivan has completed his Media bike car - a four-wheeler that can safely transport media makers, serve as a platform for recording interviews or video projection, and is a model of the low impact vehicle. Check out the Media Car video immediately below this post. He is currently working on his final vehicle - its nature is evolving.

Julia Field is winding up production of her Undriving videos - chronicles of a few of the 5,000 King County drivers who have made their own unique pledges as non-drivers. Check them out on her organization’s website - Undriving.org.

We recently posted Dominic Muren’s Humblefacture Ted Talk here and on the blog. It’s humble, it’s smart and it’s a lovely shade of red.

Stay tuned for our springtime exhibition of aLIVe, where all the artists will be represented.

Dominic Muren, one of our aLIVe artists, was a 2010 TED fellow. Check out his TED talk, about sustainable design strategies. He’s a smarty.

aLIVe artist Julia Field has been working with UW communications students to document her Undriving project. Here’s an early video - she’s doing final edits on individual profiles now. 

(Source: youtube.com)

h20 flow -  a very low impact vehicle

Johnny Olivan’s latest bike car is designed to collect and store rainwater, which can then be used to water the landscape. Fully loaded, its weight makes this is a very low impact vehicle. No matter, it’s gorgeous - more time to admire it as it sails by. 

Portland or bust!

On account of it being summer, and in spite of that busy around the office, I am late in sharing these photographs from the Seattle to Portland bike ride of a week ago. aLIVe artist Johnnie Olivan was in town with friends  Paige and Robert to take on the 200 miles of the STP. They rose early, rode hard and made the ride in two days. Without gears the bike had to be pushed up hills, but the team was willing. See his video here soon. 4Culture really enjoyed hosting the group for a few days before the ride. Bravo!

bicycle bye-bye

Let us take a moment to mourn the passing of the Wheelchair bike, the first of Johnnie Olivan’s bicycle creations for the aLIVe project. Parked in front of his house, it disappeared in the middle of the night last week. Sleuthing found it had been trashed, picked up and recycled. The wheelchair is still out there, somewhere in the streets of Portland. Wheelie, we hardly knew ye.