Studio-phoenix blogspot is an art-blog bringing you some of the best in new visual and performing art, music, food, fashion, politics and events in NYC, the Balkans & elsewhere in the world . The main focus is to post articles and cover stories about emerging artists in New York City, with a strong focus on Brooklyn. Please stay with us as we seek to improve, and refine our methods. "Art is the reason, art is the way". Cheers!
This months cover design by Aleksandar Ares, layout by K.K.W.
Rise of a "young one" (Barclays Center). Article & Photos by K.K.W
"Urban gentrification is associated with migration within a population. In a community undergoing gentrification, the average income increases and average family size decreases. This generally results in the displacement of the poorer, pre-gentrification residents, who are unable to pay increased rents or house prices and property taxes. Often old industrial buildings are converted to residences and shops. In addition, new businesses, catering to a more affluent base of consumers and those that can afford increased commercial rent, move in, further increasing the appeal to more affluent migrants and decreasing the accessibility to the poor." (1)
Over the last 5-10 years and in fact more, many have watched as Brooklyn has become a more desirable place to live. Park Slope, "Dumbo", Cobble Hill, Brooklyn heights, Ditmas Park sector are prime examples of this. All have fallen to change via gentrification (some would say a natural soci-o-economic cycle).
Early stages of construction (spring of 2012)
With this comes Real Estate developers, new structures, buildings, Cafes, restaurants, posh stores catering to, primarily, new residents and to a small degree those who still live there. The use of "eminent domain" played a major part in the rise of Barclays Center - the latest addition in a wave of new architecture along Flatbush Ave (between Myrtle & Atlantic Ave), changing the landscape of Brooklyn. The project was initially proposed by Bruce Ratner back in 2004 after he purchased the New Jersey Nets (now The Brooklyn Nets) in the first step to build them a new home and moving them to Brooklyn. Jay-Z is a partial owner of the team, which makes sense why he would have serious involvement. He was also the main performer for opening night, Sept 28 2012.
Early stages of construction (spring of 2012)
Some of the obvious pro's are jobs via construction/demolition labor to remove the buildings that was there, and in erecting the arena (a 2006 economic impact study found that the project would produce more then 17,000 construction jobs). Along with this, designers who created it, those who sold the materials for it and all the middle men in between. It has brought some jobs to the area since it opened, people who staff it for the games and events, the "clubs", bars, lounges, restaurants, and shops contained within, including Jay-Z's 40/40 club (more then 8,500 permanent jobs). Not to mention the traffic safety officers who are there directing pedestrians for every event, the extra police on hand, and the sanitation crews for clean-up. In addition to the Nets, there will be performances by Barbra Streisand, John Legend, Smashing Pumpkins, Justin Bieber, The Who, Green Day, and Rihanna to name a few. Although many of those who live in Brooklyn can't afford tickets, I suppose its a comforting thought have the honor of such events being so close.
Mid-Spring 2012
The con's starts with those who owned the private property and businesses forced to vacate via "Eminent Domain", so the arena could be built. This will in-fact will be more of a reason for further development in Brooklyn that will see possible displacement of long time residents, and may lead to increased gentrification. The center is only part of a larger project, which includes 16 residential towers around the arena of which, only a few of the building units will be for low and middle-in-come families. With more construction comes traffic delays, dust and noise pollution, not to mention loss of revenue for some local businesses.
New architectural development raises the property value of the land its built on, existing property around it and the area as a whole. It will also cause property taxes to increase, which in cases of those who cannot keep up with such increases lose their property, or are forced to raise rents to cover costs. When those who rent cannot afford such increases, they leave for elsewhere, while new tenants eventually take their place. Already you can see some empty store-fronts, and other sections pushed out, like Dekalb Market (evicted in favor of "City-Points" development - a series of residential buildings with a Century 21 store).
Mid-Spring 2012
Within the next few years we will see even more changes to the landscape of Brooklyn, and with this an increase in new residents, displacement of old residents and businesses, and further signs of gentrification. And although some of this will have positive results for the Brooklyn, many will be on the losing side unless they can keep up with the changes. This is all part of In The Shadow Of The Young Ones, urban change in our time.
This months cover design by Aleksandar Ares, original photo by K.K.W.
It died too young: Urban Change (In The Shadow Of The Young Ones). Photos By K.K.W
Entrepreneurship, quality, community, sustainability, farming and education. These are the six aspects of Dekalb Market (God rest its soul), formerly at 138 Willouhby street on Flatbush ave Brooklyn. As I biked home from Manhattan I decided to photograph the market, which I should have done much sooner. It was cloudy day, and there seemed a sense of slight despair hanging over the area, a sense of loss. Something wonderful died, and everyone who worked there, or had a business there felt the weight of it.
Requiem for Dekalb Market. The tracks were upbeat and great, but could not cover up the despair.
I thought this would be great as the ending shot. Its urban development that brought about Dekalb Market, and what caused its demise at this address. If you would like to know more, go to:http://dekalbmarket.com. "Art is the reason, art is the way."
This months cover design by Aleksandar Ares, original photo by K.K.W.
It died too young: Urban change (In The Shadow Of The Young Ones). Article & photos by K.K.W
First scene of the last days.
Entrepreneurship, quality, community, sustainability, farming and education. These are the six aspects of Dekalb Market (God rest its soul), formerly at 138 Willouhby street on Flatbush ave Brooklyn.
Housed in a collection of salvaged shipping containers that provided a performance venue, eateries, incubator farm, and work sell-spaces, it gave an operating space to many first time businesses, and added a strange and wonderful place that many grew found of.
“I like escaping the office and coming down here,” said MetroTech worker Alicia Upchurch, 27. “Not having it in this neighborhood will be depressing.”(1)
The market is now closed in favor of commercial/residential development (City Point Development), which will feature posh housing and a Century 21 store. The market is the love-child of community developer Urban Space, and cultural mavens Jennifer Louise Lyon and Joann Kim-Nunez. As far as executives from Urban Space would say the market will reopen at another location, though its not yet finalized. Many who signed leases with the market are devastated and not sure about the future of their business. “We weren’t doing well at the beginning because nobody knew we were here,” said Jessica Chen, owner of Kooj, which sells handmade bathing suits for $60.
“We’re finally doing well and have returning customers and now we have to move,” said Chen, 25, who signed a three-year lease for her space. (2)
“I have to figure out how to save my business,” said Maxcine DeGouttes of Stitch Therapy, who probably won’t move her yarn shop to DeKalb’s new site. She worries the market can’t survive in a less-densely populated locale. “They think that if you build something people will come,” said DeGouttes, who relocated just six weeks ago from a Park Slope storefront. “This isn’t the movies. This isn’t ‘Field of Dreams.’ ” (3)
This months cover design by Aleksandar Ares, original photo by K.K.W.
Nucomme & The Curators: "Betty's Story", a musical tribute to Betty Mabry Davis. Article & photos by K.K.W
Betty Mabry Davis. (image taken from the musical).
Its flavor: funk-rock nostalgia with ample sex appeal bordering on a cabaret/burlesque act. The flow at one point made me think of "School-house rock" cartoons (cool & informative), except this would be an adult version. Their method was powerful visuals evoking a past still felt deep within the present via those who know, and those who will come to know, sooner or later. Spoken word riding parallel to the vibrant music invigorating you, every step of the way.
The Iris & Gerald Cantor auditorium.
It was like a cult-funk rock gathering, bringing you closer to "The Mysteries" of "The Great Lady", the Goddess, she who is in fact all great women, the "Black Athena" of her day. Part musical tribute, black history, women's history, and feminism. The narrator's echoed throughout the auditorium and deep inside of you.
Betty Mabry Davis. (image taken from the musical).
Born on July 26th 1945, Mabry left Pittsburg for New York at 16 and began studying at The Fashion Institute Of Technology while living with her aunt. It was there she began soaking up the Greenwich Village culture of the 1960's, associating herself with frequenters of "The Cellar" (a hip uptown multiracial club). To support herself she took up work as a model, appearing in photo spreads in Seventeen, Glamor, and Ebony. More then just a pretty face and a personality, she was an extremely talented singer/song writer, her first single was "The Cellar", and yet her first professional gig was not until she wrote "Uptown(to Harlem)" for the Chambers Brothers.
Betty Mabry Davis. (image taken from the musical).
Mabry had already known such greats as Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone when she met Miles Davis in 1967. It was she that introduced him to pyschedelic rock and Funk, planting the seeds that would have a major impact on his music career, bringing about the birth of Jazz Fusion. As the tribute musical to her said last night, "Miles was at the top of his career when he met her, she took him over the top." They would be married in September 1968, and though it would last only a year, that brief stormy union would come to define a musical era.
Its her image on the cover of Miles' album "Filles De Kilimanjaro" (1968), which includes a song named after and about her -"Mademosille Mabry (miss Mabry)". His album "Bitches Brew" is in part a full on result of him having met her. It was she who convinced him to name such. After the marriage ended she moved to the U.K to further pursue her modeling career and write music with the intention of recording songs with Santana. Instead she would work a group of west coast funk musicians to make her own recordings.
Her first release being "Betty Davis" (1973), the next "They say I'm different" (1974), and her major label debut on Island Records, "Nasty Gal" (1975). None of the three albums were a commercial success, though she would remain a cult figure as a singer. The musical tribute to her was an extremely moving event that helped to spread much needed knowledge about her, and why she did not seem to gain the commercial success wanted. Though she did get record contract offers she would turn down most because they did not give her enough control. Her open sexual attitude was very controversial for the time for a black woman in the music industry. Some of her shows were boycotted and her songs not played on the radio due to pressure from religious groups. One album she was putting together in which Miles was helping with, he decided to shelve it, a serious set-back for her.
Betty Mabry Davis remains a prolific figure who helped to influence a major era in music, and at the the same time a tragic figure who society was not fully ready for. She has become in fact the stuff of legends, a woman like many others, head of her time. Nucomme & The Curators musical tribute was great in bring this across.
