After World War II the ruins of bombed-out areas of London were converted into community-built rickity parks called Adventure Playgrounds. Artist and Adventure Playground researcher Nils Norman, describes the incredible origin of these spaces for free-play:
Along with interventionist public artist Michael Cataldi, Norman is reviving the spirit of this phenomenon in a summer-long utopianist experiment called the University of Trash. Occupying the Sculpture Center in Long Island City, Queens, the University will be a free space for dozens of events and projects circulating aroud the themes of ecology, pedagogy, and transformation of Urban misery. The diverse list of radical projects currently scheduled events include a Free Skool, pirate radio broadcasts, guerilla architecture discussions, a Das Kapital reading group, and there’s plenty more to come. Among their more out-there missions is to recreate the sorely missed Tompkins Square Park Bandshell, a structure that was the public center of Lower East Side counterculture and revolt, and whose 1991 demolition was, for many, a symbol of the neighborhood’s dying identity.
Visit any day except Tuesday or Wednesday from 11am to 6pm. Bring a $5 donation if you have it.
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