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ABOUT "UP AGAINST THE SPRAWL"
As population growth and the phenomena of consumption continue to power rapid urbanization, so 'vulnerable people, vulnerable animals, and vulnerable environments' are being increasingly pushed to the literal edges of the city and to the margins of concern. Combining research into these margins with scrutiny of the public policies that define and shrink their territories, the work of Dr. Jennifer Wolch speaks clearly to the complex of social, economic and environmental interrelationships that must be addressed in the pursuit of sustainability. A Co-Director of the USC Center of Sustainable Cities, Dr. Wolch's research includes studies of urban homelessness, the implications of welfare reform on US cities, and the impact of urbanization and urban design on animal life. Her research and her policy recommendations are informed by the perception that sustainability can only be achieved by re-thinking local economies and land use and, most particularly in this latter regard, by developing planning tools that guide integrated investments in land acquisition, habitat restoration, park facilities and watershed infrastructure.
On December 3rd the Not A Cornfield project, which reclaims a 32-acre brownfield site for urban parkland and calls attention to this specific LA "margin" and its populations, will transition from its Gold Phase harvest period into the final Blue Phase: a time for contemplating future possibilities. In this context Dr. Wolch will discuss some of the innovative policies for social, economic, and environmental justice that might yet achieve an alternative future for this city.
ABOUT JENNIFER WOLCH
Dr. Wolch is Professor of Geography and Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Southern California and Co-Director of the USC Center for Sustainable Cities. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is co-author of Up Against the Sprawl: Public Policy and the Making of Southern California; Animal Geographies: Place, Politics, and Identity in the Nature-Culture Borderlands; and Malign Neglect: Homelessness in an American City. Additionally Dr. Wolch, in conjunction with Antonio Villaraigosa and the USC Southern California Studies Center, has produced an "idea bank" for Southern California titled "Action Plans for Metropolitan Los Angeles."
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ABOUT THE FILM/MUSIC EVENT
As the Not A Cornfield Project moves from the Gold Phase into the Blue Phase, you are cordially invited to attend our final Open Mic/Open Screen program of 2005: the stunning silent film classic, Grass, with an original score composed and performed especially for this event by Mitchell Brown. Curated Echo Park Film Center.
ABOUT THE FILM
Grass (1925, 91 minutes, Silent B&W)
A classic adventure by the makers of "King Kong." In 1924, neophyte filmmakers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack hooked up with journalist and sometime spy Marguerite Harrison and set off to film an adventure. They found excitement, danger and unparalleled drama in the migration of the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia (now Iran). Twice a year, more
than 50,000 people and half a million animals surmounted seemingly impossible obstacles to take their herds to pasture. The filmmakers captured unforgettable images of courage and determination as the Bakhtiari braved the raging and icy waters of the half-mile-wide Karun River. Cooper and Schoedsack almost froze when they filmed the breathtaking, almost
unbelievable, sight of an endless river of men, women and children--their feet bare or wrapped in rags--winding up the side of the sheer, snow-covered rock face of the 15,000-foot-high Zardeh Kuh mountain. (Source: Image Entertainment, Inc.)
ABOUT THE MUSICAL COMPOSER/PERFORMER
Mitchell Brown draws inspiration for his sound-making (and listening) from the developmentally disabled children he has assisted daily since 1995. In some of the children, the reduced capability to interact with others allows them to flourish internally through self-stimulation of the senses in a solipsistic manner. Brown attempts to instill patience through the awareness of various characteristics of sound, and caters to those with a preference of closed eyes for deep listening experiences. He heads the Melon Expander Records label and doubles as Professor Cantaloupe when doing radio shows on KXLU.
////////// ABOUT NOT A CORNFIELD SALONS
"Up Against the Sprawl" is one in an ongoing series of Not A Cornfield Salons that bring people together in order to share, engage, energize, and enhance the organic nexus that is this project. Please note that this is the final salon of 2005. The series will reopen in mid-January 2006.
ABOUT THE NOT A CORNFIELD PROJECT
Growing in the historic center of Los Angeles, the Not Cornfield project transforms an industrial brownfield site into a cornfield for one agricultural cycle. Now the Los Angeles Historic State Park, the site popularly known as 'The Cornfield' had remained derelict for more than a decade. The project serves as a potent metaphor that provides a focus for reflection and action in a city unclear about the location of its energetic and historic center.
ABOUT LAUREN BON, NOT A CORNFIELD ARTIST
Lauren Bon resides in Los Angeles and holds a Masters of Architecture degree from MIT and a BA from Princeton. Ms. Bon is a trustee of the Annenberg Foundation and President of Not A Cornfield, LLC. Her recent urban, public and land art projects in the U.S., Hong Kong, Belfast and Northern Ireland, as well as her role as a trustee, make her uniquely poised to build the capacity of the Foundation in the area of site based philanthropy, serving communities through education, civic, health, artistic initiatives and programs. Not a Cornfield art project is being developed through a grant by the Annenberg Foundation.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
Echo Park Film Center is a volunteer-run, non-profit media arts center committed to providing equal and affordable access to film and video education and resources for all members of our diverse and vibrant community via a community microcinema space, free and nominal cost media arts education programs, a comprehensive film equipment and service department, and a touring film festival showcasing local established and student filmmakers. |
