The City that Could
The place is too steeped in college memories – and I was too uncreative to break out of that. Where I graffitied with Bingo. Where I smoked with the kids. Where I talked with Joe the jazz bum. Where I sketched, read, studied, learned, played, and rowdied.
I met YupNo halfway this Saturday in Philadelphia. She was riding up with her friend and so I figured, hey, why not? Good trip down Nostalgia Lane. I haven't been back to Penn since 2003.
But the city was too small, too quiet, and too.. too related to the past for me. I felt I was back in some sort of time warp, sort of like being in one of those snowglobes where everything is layered by saccharine remembrances.
The place is too steeped in college memories – and I was too uncreative to break out of that. Where I graffitied with Bingo. Where I smoked with the kids. Where I talked with Joe the jazz bum. Where I sketched, read, studied, learned, played, and rowdied. They're just empty spaces now, filled by the abstract.
The friends who are left have now moved into their own pockets within the city. Ink is at Jefferson, Luciano is out in King of Prussia, and Bingo is out in the burbs. So what's left? Damn good crepes at the Petite Creperie food truck, pretty good coffee shops like this one, a sterilized campus that evoked some wild rewinds, and a city that could.
Philadelphia gets it hard from me cause I see so much potential there – maybe that's why a lot of people have been moving back. But I still see a lot of spaces that can be utilized, transport options worth upgrading, and some pretty good momentum for the arts and art scenes.
I did check out the ICA and their exhibitions. The Locally Localized Gravity exhibition was particularly impressive – heady and inspiring. I was impressed by Space 1026 massive installations: imagine treehouses and canopies and rooms all made of cardboard.. each individual board (about 10" x 10") an exercise in screenpainting, design, and artistry.. sort of like an Ewok colony on acid.
I'm pretty stoked that Space 1026 is basically a collective of artists whose (failed) ventures of T-shirt & skateboard design companies led them to creating really crazy and social and experimental art. Check them out... they're living the dream – cutting out a piece of habitat where values of success and liberation are wholly independent from societal pressures and norm.. and it's working!
Anyways, hoping to go back and spend some time in 2007 Phila. Maybe my buddies there can show me around and get me acquainted with the real city!