Some would like to take the “nuclear option” with the Gates and banish them from the face of the earth and from all memory. (I’m talking about our town’s grumpy critic who wrote that the best thing about the Gates was that they were to be shredded and would never again re-appear (I’m paraphrasing but that was the gist of it)).
Others, like the people at the Collective Memory Machine project want to make the Gates live forever, online in a project whose subtext is creating a community and discussion about things like public art. The organizers of the CMM are heavy-hitters in the digi- and book worlds, Flickr.Com, the online photo management and sharing application and The Institute For The Future Of The Book, founded in 2004 and located at the University of Southern California and at Columbia University.
The project invites the 4 million visitors to Central Park during the project’s run to post photos and stories at the CMM website about their experience of the Gates.
My quick perusal of the site turned up some black and white photos (guffaw, no color, get it) and a nice shot of a black kitty chewing on the orange souvenir fabric swatch. The photo was posted by Martyne from Montreal and she’s got 76 more shots (some more of the kitty) in her online portfolio at the site.
It’s great to see some humor in the mix at the CMM site. I was afraid it was going to be all ponderous and didactic. But it’s not. Check it out if it’s for you.
