Windows to the Past

On the college campus, the majority of the residents leave after four years. The short residence time reduces the occupant’s knowledge of the history of the area in which they live. A problem specific to Rensselaer and other technical schools is an under appreciation for observing world that surrounds you.

To address both these problems, I will find historic photographs of campus and digitally manipulate them to fit the perspective of a view out the windows of various campus buildings. The images will be printed on transparency material. Because the images are backlit, they will attract the interest from passers by. Once a person looks at the images, they can focus on the plane of the window, and see the past. If they focus their eyes on the buildings outside, they will see the present.

A society where each generation becomes disconnected from the previous is bound to self destruct because there is no impetus for civic involvement. It is evident within suburbia that that society no longer feels a need to work as a cohesive unit – there is no public space or effort put forth in public buildings. By generating interest in history, I hope to make residents feel more of a part of society so they will take more of an effort in its maintenance.

Realized ->

• Crary, Jonathan. Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century. Mass,: MIT Press, Cambridge, 1990.
• Klein, Naomi. No Logo, "Alt.everything", New York
• Kunstler, James Howard. The Geography Of Nowhere Touchstone, New York 1993
• Goldston, Robert. Suburbia: civic denial Macmillan Company, New York. 1970
• Poe. Haunted Atlantic. 2000