In 2001, an industrial site in Allston/Brighton, a neighborhood in Boston, was proposed for development. The community, dating to the seventeenth century, asked to developer to honor the history of the site. The developer worked out an agreement with the community to install a work of art that would give a history. In 2004, I met with the developer and representatives of the community. The site by this time had been developed into an high rise office facility with an entry plaza and parking structure. Many of the tenants were media related companies, including, WGBH, a local PBS affiliate. I proposed that the symbols of the sites past be incorporated into a wind driven animation device, a zoetrope. Three pylons, 24 feet tall were erected, and eight wheels, ranging from four to eight feet in diameter were installed on the pylons, with images representative of the sites history mounted with in each wheel. Now, these giant spinning animation devices create moving silhouettes of steam engines, sailing ships and swimming fish, announcing the sites past and linking it to its present.

BV Development, Brighton, Massachusetts