This is my transcription of the last few minutes of Mierle's talk based on my notes. There is a quote towards the end that I really like and maybe we could use as a starting point for the introductory label, perhaps not as a direct quote, but as a basic idea, using the organic nature of the city as a body to explain the importance of DSNY. Just an idea... Please post comments if I made mistakes in the names/references, and if you noted something else.
After having heard our presentation of themes and the digital archive, Mierle Ukeles said:
“It would be great if there was some introspection in the institution so that there will be respect for this material. The whole department needs to get involved, maybe even have the office at 44 Beaver Street (?) where landfill engineering or recycling, not on the same floor, but in the same building and enforcement, involved because they have a radically different experience. What was great about Touch Sanitation is that it crossed over all boundaries: collection, disposal, headquarters, all the bureaucracy. Normally it is all set up like a feudal system with a tendency to divide and conquer and many walls. You should use the exhibit to overcome all differences and work together. The fact that it was temporary is always easier, a museum is more permanent, more difficult, you will need lots of support.
At the exhibition at the Transfer station, people in the department did bring their families, showing them the trucks and bulldozers, with a real sense of personal ownership, talking about the workplace as an integral part of people’s lives. The Gallery was more quiet, also smaller, but many sanitation workers worked to bring in material.
A museum would be better in a department location rather than a gallery-like setting. I would stay away from a white-cube. Touch Sanitation began in District 1, it is part of the street, the city, it has a lot of respect and honor, there is culture there. It is important for the museum to be in Sanitation.
Mapping is very important in the department. It is how people find garbage, they know every street in the city.
The physicality of sanitation is key: the city itself is like a body to be taken care of. The city is very alive and Sanitation workers know and feel responsible for that. You work in shifts. It is your life, your heartbeat.
I agree with Robin, it is about the bodies of men and women, the continuity in history is the strength to pick up and figure out where to put it down. It is important to emphasize this, that these people work on the street, that their voices are loud to be heard, their gestures
Comments (1)
I like the idea of using the bold part of the quote as a jumping-off point for the introduction text. It gives a good sense of the physical (and as you said Sandra, organic) nature of the work that may not be in the forefront given all of the heavy machinery used…I also think maybe incorporating some of the "key points" from Vito Turso’s talk, like the notion that the sanitation department really functions “with” the community, etc might help to frame the exhibit? The more I think about it, maybe it would be good to brainstorm the key points that encompass all of our themes? It also might be interesting to play with the above idea of "permanence." A lot of the speakers throughout the semester highlighted the "permanence" of the position of sanitation work; the trash will ALWAYS be there, it is a necessity to pick it up. At the same time, the way the trash is handled, considered, talked about and presented has changed. In the same way, the artifacts in the museum are permanent, but the way they are understood by the public, they way the department and others may use the museum space will constantly evolve as well. I might be too far on a tangent on this one but I think our introduction has room to bring in some of the larger ideas that have been flowing throughout the semester.
Posted by Casey Lynn | November 14, 2007 5:12 PM
Posted on November 14, 2007 17:12