Friday, January 14, 2011

The Guggenheim wants our rat-infested First Street lot



You know that vacant, rat-infested lot on East First Street near Second Avenue? The Guggenheim has its eye on it. Check out this report from Patrick Hedlund at DNAinfo:

Now, the Guggenheim is floating a plan to build a two-level structure there in late 2011 that would act as a short-term community center, gathering space and think-tank before moving to other major international cities, representatives from the museum told Community Board 3 Thursday.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Residents pitching in to help refurbish First Street garden

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, say goodbye to holly wood, or say hello.
How do people feel about that? It sounds like it's pitching an appeal to the community thru provision with the self serving title 'community center' Peggy Guggenheim did support 'downtown' artists and stirred it up a bit. Yet, first street? Why don't they give a huge donation to the girls club in e.vil and move to a blighted neighborhood, a neighborhood that needs the spark of having a high profile, bring in the suits, which results in stronger local small economy stuff, like deli's and coffee places and car service and employment for some. The Guggenheim doesn't need a property deal....

Anonymous said...

I like it. Stop being dramatic. Think about it; it's NOT a bar or club so wgas, wgaf.
-H

Anonymous said...

I'm all for it - better than a bar/dry cleaner/pizza place!

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't the Guggenheim just fund the First Street Green Cultural Park's project and stay out of it.

These people have put a lot of time, energy and effort into this.

Big institutional names need to stay out of it in order for true and new creativity to transpire.

Anonymous said...

You mean move it like take it on tour? If so I hope they're going to take the rats with them.

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't one of these rich fucks who lives in the area write a check to First Street Green, clean up the rats and call it a day!

glamma said...

that title totally cracked me up.
what does wgas mean? "why go ape sh*t?"

Anonymous said...

This will only add to the gentrification. We don't need the Guggenheim and BMW to bring this temporary structure to the East Village.

Bad news! It's all part of the master plan to creep into the EV.

Stay out! Please, someone jump in and fund the First Street Cultural Park's project now!

How about someone from the Christadora. We need your help now.

Stop the gentrification. How much could it cost?

This is a bunch of bull.....

Anonymous said...

http://popsop.com/39222
OK Folks- why is this pretentious, insulting and just plain stupid event taking over our park and street? Do we really need foreign art hipsters to help us interpret the urban environment?
Check out the video link for the ultimate in annoying....
And yes- BMW, the car company, is sponsoring this whole thing...that’s how much they care about the urban environment... promoting cars while getting good advertising and using NYC parks for free

Anonymous said...

here's more on the BMW connection.
Someone should call Greenpeace...or Rev. Billy!
http://www.artartworks.com/announce/bmw-guggenheim-lab/

Rocky Raccoon said...

Thanks anon 7:25 for the link. So Rocky hates rats like any real racoon and his cousin Ralphy had to abondon his den on this lot because of these nasty dirty bastards, but BMW ain't the answer. Check out this quote from their site:
"An innovative movable structure that travels from city to city, the BMW Guggenheim Lab will bring together ambitious thinkers from around the globe and will be a public place for sharing ideas and practical solutions to major issues affecting urban life".
How paternalistic is this line of crap - does the EV really need the Guggenheim and BMW to tell us how to solve our problems -do they have any idea what our neighborhood was like back in the day? Have they seen the gardens people made out of these exact type of lots? Rocky dug his own den, with his own two paws and if I may say so myself it is quite lovely and he didn't need a giant car company to help him figure it out.

Jeremiah Moss said...

this is going to bring more assholes. period.

Anonymous said...

Art: the ultimate gentrification tool...first they came for the Mars Bar and now they're coming for the Rats...

Marty Wombacher said...

I smell a Boomtown Rats reunion in the works.

Media glut said...

Well now, if they could give everyone who lives on 1st in that block a BMW . . .

(I could sell that shit and pay the rent or move to South America.)

Anonymous said...

Can't we get them to take over La Vie too?

Melanie said...

Hey--maybe the Guggenheim may give some graffiti artists a nod. A nice thought indeed. And a retrospective on the EV--photos by the many photogs who have looked at the EV and been inspired.