Anyplace, Brooklyn

Brooklyn, NY - CartLegger - Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 : goo

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Metrotech is a section of Brooklyn that I never really thought to photograph before. I have to admit that there was nothing to my catch my eye in it’s featureless corporate landscape.

Are you smiling for the cameras?

But that’s exactly what caught the eye of documentarian Samara Smith, the creator of the anyplace Brooklyn Walking Tour.

Is it really being in Brooklyn if you never touch the ground?

As a part of the 2007 Conflux festival, Smith has created a soundscaped exploration of the many transformations that have remade this corner of old Brooklyn into a gleaming and sterile facade of the future.

Can a private space call itself public?

The focus of this walking tour, in her own words, is “to explore critical issues raised by the city’s development plans [for this area including: public space, democracy, eminent domain, freedom of expression, and privatization”. She accomplishes this with an engaging manner and simply worded approach.

Are the right people profitting from all this business?

Smith compressed two years worth of research into a 60 minute walking tour, allowing one to walk in her steps, listening to interviews with area residents and activists, and seeing this space in a whole new way.

Can dead buildings replace a living neighborhood?

Interspersed with the interviews and stories was the calm voice of narrator Greta Schwerner, describing virtually every movement to make. Its an eerie experience, and a little disembodying; being surrounded by the sounds of these streets. Reminder: the cars you can’t hear are the real ones.

Can historical value be measured by the square foot?

I strongly recommend that any locals get in on this experience while the neighborhood is still there--it might not be long!

What will be left and will it still be Brooklyn?

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