Light Rail + Art

May 17, 2010 8:11 AM

A Six Mile Inquiry Light rail is coming to Saint Paul and will change a significant stretch of a major urban street. An artist is using six miles of the street to showcase photography of local subjects.

Presented by Public Art Saint Paul, Wing Young Huie’s University Avenue Project: The Language of Urbanism, a Six-Mile Photographic Inquiry, will transform a major urban thoroughfare in Saint Paul, Minnesota, into a six-mile public gallery of over 400 photographs. Wing’s images reveal the dizzying socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic realities of the citizens who work, live, and go to school along this corridor that is jammed with storefronts, taverns, big-box retailers, blue-collar neighborhoods and condominium communities.

posted by ShadePlant (13 comments total)

They better hope Marge doesn't hear about this.
posted by rokusan at 8:29 AM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Speaking of art along University Avenue, here's a photo gallery of a mural on University and Fairview: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nevermindtheend/sets/72157601429625326/

The mural includes a historic street car as well as the new light rail vehicle that will run along University soon.
posted by nevermindtheend at 8:42 AM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Clickable version of nevermindtheend's link.
posted by Mental Wimp at 8:53 AM on May 17, 2010

I interviewed the photographer about this project about a year ago.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:53 AM on May 17, 2010

Thanks Mental Wimp - that was my first post and I managed not to notice the "link" button.
posted by nevermindtheend at 8:57 AM on May 17, 2010

Are they finally doing the University Ave line? Bout time!
posted by lunasol at 9:04 AM on May 17, 2010

For those that don't know St. Paul, University Avenue is crammed with ethnic restaurants and grocery stores, especially Southeast Asian and African, and local small businesses of all stripes (there are a few big box stores, too, especially between Hamline and Snelling) (also home to the Turf Club, where my smaller daughter's reception will be held later this year. Its (University Avenue's) counterpart in Minneapolis is probably Lake Street and they represent exactly the fears that drive the anti-immigrant folks: lots of brown people in the heartland. To the rest of us, this is America, now, and we embrace it.
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:05 AM on May 17, 2010

I live right by this. If anyone wants to go for a walk down University, feel free to MeMail me.
posted by SemiSophos at 9:28 AM on May 17, 2010

Its (University Avenue's) counterpart in Minneapolis is probably Lake Street and they represent exactly the fears that drive the anti-immigrant folks: lots of brown people in the heartland.

There's a fascinating lag in perception here, too. If you mention the Twin Cities to someone from the East or West coast, odds are they still think of it as Anglo-American through and through. Same goes for the Detroit suburbs or even Chicago. I've had people astonished that there were Spanish-speaking corners of Minneapolis, much less Somali or Ethiopian or Hmong.

It's like the myth these anti-immigration folks are trying to spread, of a white anglo heartland (with a few black anglo neighborhoods that you shouldn't really visit or even mention), is still taken as the gospel truth outside the area. And that's weird. Meanwhile, those of us who hear "Midwestern" and think of Dearborn or Lake Street or whatever aren't doing such a good job on PR, apparently, because the rest of the country doesn't seem to have caught up.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:39 AM on May 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

There's been a decent amount of criticism and opposition to the University Avenue line, going back before the Hiawatha line's construction. The biggest problem is the feared disruption of these diverse businesses during the construction project itself, and there is an extremely unpleasant historical parallel that is informing much of the opposition: the construction of Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, which involved the literal destruction of the Rondo neighborhood, the black business community of St. Paul. I happen to think that the line will likely be a huge economic boon for the area, but there is an understandable fear that the Twin Cities will be again wiping out an important ethnic enclave for the good of the whole, for convenience purposes. This project is (literally!) set in the backdrop of this ongoing discussion.
posted by norm at 2:35 PM on May 17, 2010

I'm of two minds about the light rail project. As a Macalester student who travels to Minneapolis quite frequently, I'm looking forward to not having to go all the way to 46th just to catch the light rail. Yet I'm also aware of the problems norm mentions (I think of, for example, the BLIGHT RAIL signs in shops like Midway Books), which make me more than a little insecure about supporting the endeavor. I think, though, that art installations like this offer a beautiful way to unite the community. (I'm also quite upset that the majority of the project is happening over the summer, while I'm not in St. Paul.)
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 3:22 PM on May 17, 2010

Light Rail down University Avenue would be incredible. The ridership would dwarf the Hiawatha route.

SemiSophos, is that a pothole joke?
posted by Sphinx at 6:42 PM on May 17, 2010

Sphinx, it's actually a sincere offer. I live right in the middle of the exhibit, so I've seen a few blocks, but haven't made it to either end yet.
posted by SemiSophos at 9:50 PM on May 17, 2010