According to the article “Volunteers Chip in Before World Choir Games Begin,” this installation at 3rd St. and Broadway in downtown Cincinnati is a project of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful and was executed by a group of volunteers from area Lowe’s stores. Thanks for transforming this ugly construction fence into a cheery work of public art!
This is exactly the kind of artistic intervention I love! It’s simple — just colorful strips of nylon woven semi-regularly into a chain link fence. Anyone can help with something like this, and you don’t need specialized skills or supplies. It’s flexible — this scheme could work on other construction fences. Lastly, it’s surprising — it really has changed something necessary but ugly into a colorful work of art.
A couple of years ago, I sharply criticized Future Blooms, a Keep Cincinnati Beautiful project in Over-the-Rhine. I still have mixed feelings about that project and wasn’t entirely surprised when it was vandalized. I really like this fence installation, though, and look forward to the organization’s future interventions in the urban core and beyond.
The breathless excitement surrounding the 2012 World Choir Games has been a source of amusement for me, but I do really appreciate that the event has been a catalyst for so much beautification, much of it small in scale, but all of it adding to measurable visual improvement. I’ve noticed many buildings adding window boxes and sidewalk planters, and repainting façades and commercial signs. The second iteration of the Big Pig Gig is also taking over the city. All in all, I think Cincinnati is poised to impress its choral visitors.
I really like this “installation” too. I’ve driven by a couple times and didn’t have the camera handy. So glad you did!