Bridging Kingsbridge is an interdisciplinary project consisting of interactive public performances and video as well as photographic-essays and interviews that will reflect on communities living in the Kingsbridge area of the Bronx.
This area is of great relevance in the current and very heated context of Bronx communities disrupted by gentrification. It is ripe for real estate development with easy access to public transportation, several colleges, business districts, the Kingsbridge Armory (with a potential project that could convert it into “the largest ice sports complex in the world”) and last but not least, the Jerome Avenue Re-zoning proposal. All of these factors would have a huge impact on Kingsbridge community residents who can face displacement in addition to already dealing with a lack of educational resources, jobs and adequate social services.
Bridging Kingsbridge aims at creating a historical timeline to document the cultural and societal complexities of the community and its changes; more importantly, it’ll use art as the primary tool of discussion and political subversion to engage, revitalize and unify the Kingsbridge community.
For this grant, I'd like to request funding to take on the second phase of this project by conducting interviews with community members and for the creation of a blog which will make this information available to the public (first phase of the project consisted in interactive public art performances). Finally, I'd like to have a free screening at the Poe Park Center.
