2nd District Councilmember Suja Lowenthal addresses the crowd under the canopy of the project.
3:00pm | The wraps were taken off a new public art project in downtown Long Beach over the weekend, as the crane-and-cargo-net design of Los Angeles art group Greenmeme was unveiled for the first time.
The project is called Urban Lab: Chantilly Clad and will temporarily occupy the lot at Ocean Boulevard and Lime Avenue while the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) works on plans to construct a mixed-use residential property on the site. For now, the land is vacant and so the Long Beach Arts Council brought in artists to create a temporary installment.
Greenmeme artists Freya Bardell and Brian Howe used more than 30,000 feet of woven cargo netting, a reclaimed lumber stages and a couple of cranes for good measure to create the project, meant at honoring Long Beach’s port and harbor heritage. The project takes on many forms depending on what angle you’re viewing it from, but is certainly a better alternative to staring at an empty lot while it awaits development.
Photographer extraordinaire Daniel DeBoom was on hand for the unveiling, which was christened with a performance by hip-hop violinist Paul Dateh and DJ Inka One as part of the Summer And Music series. Check out the images below and stop by to see Urban Lab: Chantilly Clad when you get a chance.
Disclosure: Summer And Music is an advertiser of the lbpost.com.
