Urban Scavenger

Cruising the Wooster Collective site, as usual I came across a bit of inspiration. UrbanCurators.com documents a project begun by six Rhode Island School of Design students, mounting museum frames around the city of Providence, Rhode Island to specifically call attention to the overlooked beauty of decaying landscapes, derelict buildings, and all sorts of beautiful imperfections. (Think, the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi) The results are rather satisfying, but the scope of this project leaves me wanting for more frames in more cities. I would love to see a swatch book full of brick, biten away at by truck exhaust (like on the BQE by the bridge), and multi-layered walls, no longer wheat-pasted but not yet cleaned. In any event, its a pretty cool concept.

Here's a clip of their mission statement:

"Humans have for centuries sought after the grandeur of ruins that were once the glory of ancient cultures, recognizing them as windows into the lives of past civilizations. The Urban Curators project proposes that we should likewise cherish those ruins that reflect modern-day consumerism and industr- ialization, realizing them as vehicles by which we can gain insight into our own society."

Their links section is pretty great too. Various archives of urban ruins and explorations. The Northeast is teeming with rot kids. Dig in! It also led me to a great site called Dropspots.org, which is basically a message board working in conjunction with google maps to facilitate the exchange of various goods hidden in public places. Sort of a treasure hunt and swap meet in one. Go type in your zip code and check out how many times you passed over a prize because you were too focused on walking and not making eye-contact at the same time.