On the Matter of Public Space

I thought that this was an interesting read, and I really liked how she talked about her personal experience running the gallery. I think that the idea of an apartment or home run gallery is really empowering to the artists involved, they probably have more freedom to do what they want because its a community like she said. I would imagine it would be really difficult to set up shows that included vendors and live music, so I'm sure the community that she is part of works together really well. This reminded me of Brick Haus in Denton which had their first DIY group show recently. Setting it up had a lot of difficulties in communication and making sure everyone participating followed through. I hope more Denton artists start doing things like that.

My favorite part of the article was her footnote about her friend Jennie who came under the pretense of staying for a few nights and ended up just taking advantage of the gallery. I thought that could easily happen if you have such a sterile and pristine space that would look like a waste of space to someone not involved. At first I thought it was odd that the home was modeled to look like a traditional gallery, but then I realized it kind of has to in order to avoid the attitude that Jennie had toward the space.

Also I don't think this should be an illegal practice, however it is technically. I thought it was interesting how she legitimately tried to make it work with the city but they just wouldn't allow it.