Many Mini Manifestos 2016

This proposal for SFACs Art on Market Street Kiosk Poster Series responded to the theme "Utopian Visions: The Changing Face of Market Street." My concept for a poster series was two fold. First, any successful proposal for the future of Market Street needs to be heterogeneous—responsive to, and reflective of, the various stakeholders. Further, it needs to be dynamic and flexible so that it can change over time. Second, for any such vision to be realized it would have to be built within the existing infrastructure of Market Street.

I engaged these two ideas by juxtaposing several elements. Black and white photographs of Market Street (sidewalks, intersections, architecture—the existing built environment) form the backdrop to collaged texts, or “mini manifestos,” composed of short excerpts from assorted utopian urbanists (writers, thinkers, activists both contemporary and historical). These texts would then be illustrated in typography collected from the superabundance of signage that appears along Market Street between Embarcadero and 8th Street.

The intention here was to use the site-specific language of commerce and regulation to suggest alternatives to what already exists. But rather than providing visualizations of future built environments that embody certain ideals, the abstract generalizations presented in the texts invite readers to engage with the history of utopian thinking and use their own powers of interpretation and imagination to envision a better Market Street for themselves.

In the final poster for this proposal I used only hand drawn type specimens. Other posters in the series would have featured alternate texts, typography, and color palettes.