After watching How Can Public Art Transform Rough Neighborhoods, and reading Southan’s Essay. I believe that art may not solve all the world’s problems, but it is able to impact the emotions of others and perhaps turn something bad into something good. I thought it was pretty neat that, even though Dre Urhahn and Jeron Koolhaas did not originally have a plan to create these beautiful murals in rough cities, they were able to do so and turn these poverty stricken cities into Art. During their projects, they involved the people who lived in the cities, giving them a sense of purpose and pride for the area in which they live. In Southan’s Essay, the EA’s believe that donating money is the main way to help improve the condition for people living in poverty, however, Urhahn and Koolhaas proved differently. They did not have to donate money and they were able to give people happiness and the motivation to start to improve their situation simply through their art.
Nice work! I’m going to play devil’s advocate and challenge you to consider how Haas and Hahn used money–because they most certainly handled it. What they did cost money–it may be useful for you to think about how they went about dealing with this.