Rhymes With Pomegranate
Milenko Matanovic, Pomegranate Center.
When is a community ready to engage in the type of creative work that Pomegranate supports? In your experience, what groundwork needs to be in place before a project can begin? -- Kate Hofmann, Reston, Va.
Our model is based on four key ideas:
- Participatory democracy and the ideals of an open society;
- Respect for and celebration of nature;
- Generous use of hands; and
- Design that captures local possibilities and metaphors.
How does a gathering-place project begin? Does the community contact you or do you choose a community that you feel is in need of a gathering place? -- Name not provided
In the past, since we had to establish an image of what a gathering place could be, we initiated projects and often worked for little or no money. Now we have a track record, and more communities contact us and contract with us.
When you work with local communities to create a project, how do you know when you have hit the appropriate place-based message of the work? Do you strive to elicit a particular emotional response in each place? -- Steve Frisch, Truckee, Calif.
We strive for a design that rises out of the site. When the project is done, it should feel as if it has been there for a long time. Using local materials helps. Spending time at the site and working with people who have local knowledge helps. When I design, I first try to identify a feeling, a quality, or a pattern that represents the project -- a project's DNA. This DNA informs all the specific design decisions. A more apt analogy might be that it is a melody around which participants can improvise. I strive to communicate this to all who work with us so that, at the end, all the small details fit together and reinforce each other.
When you receive grants and financing for community "gathering places," are they operated by the local governments, a citizen steering committee, certain financiers/landowners, etc.? -- Jared Webb, Rocky Mount, Va.
Each project is funded differently. Currently, in most cases, we get hired to do a project. Sometimes, though, we find a project so compelling that we help raise funds that come from individuals, corporations, and foundations. We received a grant from the U.S. Forest Service to develop designs utilizing roundwood -- logs that are too small to cut into dimensional lumber and are cleared from mature forests to prevent fires.
I am curious about the art you did with OHO. Could you describe some of the conceptual artwork you created? -- Name not provided
I lit candles in a field, arranged to mirror the stars in the sky. I placed a line of string and wood into a river to help people see the invisible currents. I exploded a smoke bomb in a gallery to recreate the feeling I had watching clouds on my first airplane ride. Moses-like, I parted a wheat field with a string. I organized a large group of friends to freeze on a signal, thus creating puzzlement in the citizens of my native city of Ljubljana. I walked hundreds of times over the same terrain to forge a new path. I exhibited the sunset. You get the idea. I played with pranks and interventions that aimed to confuse or illuminate, depending on the situation.
Your gathering-place projects are beautiful. Having worked with many children and volunteers on artworks in the past, I know it is often challenging to maintain the quality of the artwork while managing so many people with different skill levels. Do you have any advice on ways to keep your standards and the quality high when working with young children and volunteers? -- Name not provided
I'm glad you think our projects are beautiful. Our goal is to keep the quality high while being inclusive, and we recognize that there is a tension between these two goals. In each project, we separate what can be done by volunteers from what needs to be done by professionals. For example, we do not involve volunteers in anything that is dangerous. In addition, the design needs to be volunteer-friendly. For example, in a straight wall, each misplaced brick or stone will read as a mistake. A curved wall is much more tolerant of imperfections, and mistakes can actually add to the character. We also have team leaders in place to teach techniques to the volunteers and keep the quality high. We expect a lot from volunteers, and we don't hesitate to push them hard. In the end, they are grateful for this because they end up with a work that they will be proud of for a long time.
Do you have any formal education regarding community development/planning? Do you have any suggestions for future urban/community planners regarding education/experience? -- Erica Mensch, Bloomburg, Penn.
I studied art history at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, though I left the country just before I graduated. I learned almost everything I do just by doing it, what my wife calls "Seat-of-the-Pants University." I've worked with mentors and have learned from numerous individuals. That worked for me. Now there are schools that teach how this kind of work can be done. For example, the University of Washington's Community, Environment, and Planning program teaches public involvement and design. Ultimately I think that the best way is to work with people you can trust who have experience and knowledge.
I agree with your ideas about the traditional village approach to urban living, but noticed you didn't talk about workplace environments. How do you see office space and technology parks being incorporated into these communities? -- Jared Webb, Rocky Mount, Va.
My basic thought would be to integrate them into the fabric of the community rather than zone them into separate campuses. My only experience with that is at Pickering Place in Issaquah, Wash., convincing the developers to donate a central space back to the community and then creating an amphitheater and plaza for public use.
I have found that public meetings are often very frustrating. Some people are just there to complain, and they don't seem open to thinking beyond their interests and considering what's best for the community. What are some of your methods for dealing with these people and facilitating processes that result in a commonly held plan? -- Name not provided
When I work with public meetings, I begin by presenting a procedure for civic behavior. I call it "ground rules for peer learning" and ask participants to abide by these rules. Peer learning assumes that together we know more than any one individual. The goal is to uncover the very best solution, not to convince others about the rightness of one's own pet idea. Some of the rules are simple -- respect and listening, for example. Others are a bit more demanding. For example, I ask that people be willing to change their mind in view of new information. I ask them to think on behalf of those not present but who will be affected by the decision. I ask them to be creative, because new conditions require fresh solutions. Often I open the process with a short presentation introducing what other cities and communities have done in similar situations -- this is to open up the imagination beyond the familiar.
Does Pomegranate Center offer classes and workshops? -- Name not provided
Pomegranate Center sponsors an annual gathering to meet with colleagues and explore the connection between design and community. I am receiving more requests for talks, workshops, and classes. Pomegranate Center's next goal is to integrate workshops with our projects, balancing theoretical ideas of place-making and community building with hands-on work. We have also received a grant from Safeco Corp. to write a booklet on gathering places, a project I am currently working on. Join our mailing list to receive more information.
I love your statement about the environmental movement's need to imagine a future that is so compelling and celebratory that others want to join in, and I'm sold on your supremely hopeful vision of what "mission accomplished" will look like. Until we get there, what do you celebrate now, every day, to make that inspiring vision contagious? -- Kate Hofmann, Reston, Va.
I enjoy the many contradictions and ironies of our culture. I enjoy and respect my colleagues at Pomegranate Center -- a motley crew with a good sense of humor. We laugh a lot. I enjoy the work -- squeezing large ideas into limited projects. For more, see the next answer.
How do you stay positive about the future and not focus on the dire consequences of our actions when it seems we are up against so many challenges? -- Name not provided
I think that in times like ours, the most important thing is to think imaginatively and creatively. When one is depressed, that kind of thinking goes out the window. Someone said that worrying is praying for what we don't want. If the problem starts defining our thinking and our actions, then we become a part of that problem. We turn into what we hate. I happen to think that it's important to practice holding the tension between the ideal and the real, and resist the temptation to think that we have to choose one over the other. This is not easy, but lucky for us, every day offers us opportunities to practice it by doing small things on behalf of the change we want to see in the world. The sum total of those small but powerful acts will slowly tip the balance. If we only react, change is not possible.
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