{"id":188632,"date":"2021-10-02T23:26:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T03:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_news&p=188632"},"modified":"2022-10-27T16:34:31","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:34:31","slug":"the-plywood-protection-project-selects-winning-public-art-concepts-made-from-discarded-boards","status":"publish","type":"id_news","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/designwire\/the-plywood-protection-project-selects-winning-public-art-concepts-made-from-discarded-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"The Plywood Protection Project Selects Winning Public Art Concepts Made from Discarded Boards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\"RockIt
RockIt Black, by Tanda Francis, stands 12\u00bd feet tall in Queensbridge Park, made of polished concrete, aluminum mirror, and painted plywood repurposed from boarded-up storefronts. It\u2019s one of five citywide installations in the Plywood Protection Project, a program by the arts nonprofit Worthless Studios that\u2019s on view until November 1. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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October 2, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n

Words:\u00a0<\/span>Annie Block<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography:\u00a0<\/span>Brett Beyer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Plywood Protection Project Selects Winning Public Art Concepts Made from Discarded Boards<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For some, it seems like yesterday when retailers and restaurants throughout Manhattan boarded up their storefronts in anticipation of the demonstrations surrounding police brutality and the contentious presidential election. While pandemic challenges persist, New York has somewhat stabilized, even felt occasionally optimistic, since the turbulent summer and fall of 2020, and that\u2019s partly due to the Plywood Protection Project<\/a>, an initiative by Worthless Studios<\/a>, a nonprofit dedicated to suppor\u00adt\u00ading artists\u2019 fabrication needs and producing public art. Founder Neil Hamamoto, a conceptual artist himself who has a mechanical engineering degree from Stanford University and installations planned for Google\u2019s new Pier 57 offices, got the idea driving around SoHo, where he saw wood on the streets ready for disposal. \u201cIt just sort of clicked that all these businesses were paying so much money to protect their windows, but what was going to happen to the material when they reopened?\u201d he told The New York Times last spring. (A single plywood board had risen to more than $90, up from about $25.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worthless collected over 200 discarded boards, then the Plywood Protection Project launched a call for proposals, of which five winners were awarded studio space, tools, and a stipend. More than 200 artists applied, and in May, one sculpture was installed in each of the boroughs. Behin Ha Design Studio\u2019s Be Heard, a large-scale megaphone form at Thomas Pain Park, required over 30 boards. Although nearly 13 feet high, Tanda Francis used fewer for her Queensbridge Park sculpture, a black column carved with women\u2019s faces inspired by Mama Wata, an African goddess \u201cwith a cleansing spirit for this world on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"RockIt
RockIt Black, by Tanda Francis, stands 12\u00bd feet tall in Queensbridge Park, made of polished concrete, aluminum mirror, and painted plywood repurposed from boarded-up storefronts. It\u2019s one of five citywide installations in the Plywood Protection Project, a program by the arts nonprofit Worthless Studios that\u2019s on view until November 1. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n