I agree with what you have to say wholeheartedly. I could understand it if it weren't for such a long time or if at least one of the parks was open but this is ridiculous. I can't believe that the office of parks and recreation granted the permits for this project - I am outraged !

Thank you for writing this entry. This "project" is ridiculous, and couldn't be timed any worse. The weather is starting to change, and the first thing on everyone's mind is getting outside. You've hit the nail on the head with your assessment on what this garbage is all about: control. This clown is exerting control over the public space, for no reason.

I am all for art, but restricting a person from going into the park is not art. It is like saying that I love the beauty of the ocean, so there can be no boats in the ocean or that Camden Yards is a remarkable stadium and I want to preserve it, so the Orioles cannot play there. I guess I am not artistic enough to see his brilliance.

What I'd like to know is how the heck does a SENIOR at MICA rate the permission required to put up this cockamaimie project? It's just another indication of the kind of stanglehold MICA has over this city when it comes to the arts. Why is everything always about MICA? You'd think there were no artists in town except those at MICA.

I personally think this is a great and mature statement from such a young artist. As Baltimore continues to throw up flimsy "luxury" condos across Mt.Vernon and beyond, while neglecting many of our city's actual needs and detracting from its history and beauty, I think this project should inspire dialog from people in the area in regards to what is being done to our city.

And honestly as an artist myself, having seen how cities use artists to spearhead gentrification then force them out and then demolish anything left of the culture that they brought as well, this frustration that is felt by the community regarding this project should hopefully help the broader community understand the frustrations of artists and also lower-income families and residents of this city that are "locked"/priced out of much of this city.

I tend to subscribe to the old adage that good art is polarizing, and it looks like that is what we have here.

Dear Mr. McNatt,

While you and everyone else who take the time to visit Beyond the Compass, Beyond the Square are entitled to their opinions I have to respectfully call you out on some disturbing aspects of your blog post. From this bloggers perspective the artist does not tell the community that they should be lucky to re-see the parks, but instead suggests that by altering their physical relationship with the space they may experience the parks they are so familiar with in new and unexpected ways. If you disagree with the ideas presented by the artist on his website say so, but don’t call something bad art because you need an excuse to use words like “hubris.” You also call the artist’s piece “morally blind,” which is really quite ridiculous considering that morals have nothing to do with an artistic expression and investigation that have more to do with bureaucracy than anything else. Your article also clearly indicates that your reactionary views of the fence have blinded you to its connection with mapping, clearly inhibiting your ability to effectively critique this work. This brings me to the last point about your post, you mock the artist for “deciding he's entitled to keep the rest of us out of the park” which indicates that you don’t understand that by law he is entitled to exhibit his work in the park, and that Mt. Vernon (whether you like it or not) is a PUBLIC park. Maybe in a neighborhood as elitist as Mt. Vernon it will take a golden fence to make the community realize they have fenced themselves in from the rest of the city.

No one has to like Mr. Freeman’s fence, but maybe if we all allow ourselves to step back and reflect on why we are made so angry by it we can find its connection to mapping and “re-see” and “re-consider” what is so cultural about the Culture District of Baltimore.

well let's see now..who gives you the right to do what you do in the park. aside from the fact that I am a Junior at MICA. and besides the fact that I played a major part in curating this show...i feel that this is a fantastic piece of expression. because of all the things that everyone has been complaining I feel Lee B. Freeman has been more than successful. You complain because you've been excluded from something...why not explore a different part of your beautiful city or are you all afraid to walk out of a 3-block radius of your house? there are many parks and green spaces within our city limits...and even a few just down the road. because you force your dog to defecate on the side walk instead of finding a new plot of grass to leave your feces on you (expletive deleted) and complain about this one artist that has inconvenienced your for a mere 14 days. think about all the times the politicians have forced you to take a new route home because they are "improving the city" and when they re-open the route it is just as (expletive deleted) as it was 2 weeks before. and think when the gold fence is removed you can have your precious parks back..and let your dogs poop where ever they'd like. savvy?

I think that it is about time that the citizens in this neighborhood actually cared about something. With all of the crime and lack of support for the parks and rec department it is incredible that people are losing all sense of reality when it comes an issue related to art and an exhibit that has been in the works for sometime. I'm sure that residents in that area can let their dogs poo in other places for the short period of time that the fence is going up. If it was the city putting up this fence (like the orange one they put up in years past to regrow the grass from wear) people would get over it. Why don't these crusaders against freedom of expression write to the city and ask about pot holes instead.

Dear "artists",

Let's be honest. You skirted public approval for this project, you created the project WITHOUT thought to the huge amount of inconvenience to the local community, and you are pleased with the uproar that you've created.

And you wonder why the "elitists" in the neighborhood that you live in can't stand you?

Please graduate and move to Williamsburg ASAP so I don't have to deal with pretentious nonsense like this in my own backyard, which you've stolen from me for two weeks.

Thanks for nothing.

I believe this is the work of one artists, and whether you like other artists or not we are also part of the same community and are certainly allowed to show support.

As for stolen and inconvenienced, i'd like you to explain exactly how something that you do not own can be stolen from you. I've been inconvenienced many time in the past by construction of buildings/shopping centers, ect... that I have no interest in, yet I deal and the other who shared my thoughts did as well. I'm sure the naysayers of this project will manage to do the same.

In essence, get over it and yourselves.

Just cut a hole in it and be done with it

As a taxpayer and Mt Vernon resident, I find this exhibit to be ugly, childish, non-artistic, wasteful, and a fascist blemish on the National Historic District. How could the City be so irresponsible to allow this? As a citizen who has been working 18 hours a day for years to improve this neighborhood by restoring several historic properties with my bare hands, cleaning the sidewalks daily, planting and mulching City-owned tree wells at my own expense, and fighting crime and vandalism on a personal level, I am insulted that I should be considered as not "car(ing) about something". Rather than wasting time and money on a tacky fence that most people won't understand anyway, the artist could have replanted some of the gardens on the Square. Oh wait, he'll leave that up to the people who don't care about anything.

Dear Upset "eletists"

You must be the most selfish people in Baltimore to think that college students made art in your backyard with out considering you.

Think about other things then YOUR backyard. Everyone is equally removed from this space. Take this opportunity to consider your selfish intentions with such space, vrs the intentions of the artists and aristocrats who created the park in the first place and what these statues stand for. It is not for you dog's convenience.

-William Keddle, Resident

Just to remind everyone, the fence is only up until the morning of the 29th.

And as part of the agreement reached with several Mt Vernon associations the students who created this exhibit are taking on complete responsibility for re-seeding, repainting, and restoring the parks to their original condition.

Part of living in a vibrant cultural community is learning to share it with its diverse inhabitants, and the artists that make it a cultural community to begin with.

this "art" is terrible and stupid.

Hey look a 3rd rate Christo is going to teach us a lesson about perspective.

In order to have gotten the approval for this these students MUST have had to consider not only the inconvenience to the citizens but get some approval from the neighborhoods organizations that have an interest in the parks.

I find the assertion that this is just the exercise of Williamsburg hipsters completely offensive, these students arent spray painting yellow ducks on bar bathrooms, they are meticulous, and organized as evidenced by the support of the city, their permits, the Walters Art Museum that has collaborated with them (just look at their promo materials!) etc etc etc

Think about the ability to muster this from students, and the messages behind. I am also a resident of Mount Vernon, and I am inconvenienced by this- but its 2 weeks! the park is still there ,it is still cared for, and the city which is its master, decided to allow its removal. SO BE IT.

Chill out rabble rousers

Hey Glenn Mcnatt please do your Christo homework before mentioning his name. The Mount Vernon work is far from ANTI.

As a member of the Mt. Vernon community, the MICA community and a good friend of the artist, I want to comment on a few things that I have noticed since the park has been fenced in. I also work at the Engineer's Club in Mt. Vernon, which sits on the parks square. There have been many reactions that I have seen, just by walking to work, and it is amazing to witness so many types of responses just during my two minute commute to work. I feel that the reactions that the fence is causing is exactly what 'good art' does - it causes people to question and form opinions, be it good or bad, and obviously the fence is causing community and city wide attention. As a resident of Mt. Vernon for two years now, I can safely say that I DO take the park for granted. It is a beautiful landmark that has become, as someone mentioned before, a place where dogs poop. I think Lee wants people to appreciate the park for what it is, and to appreciate it even more after it has been taken away from us. Of course he was going to anger and annoy people by taking away a convenience, but I feel that he is in the right by making the decision to take away one of the most beautiful parts of Baltimore. We are privileged by the park, but are we really privileged by this city and the problems it is facing? Sure there have been the countless 'believe' signs everywhere, but let's face it, we live in one of the most dangerous cities in America, and HBO has capitalized on this fact with the Wire. Sure we have our quirks in the fine city of Baltimore, but our problems override a lot of our personality as a whole. The fence serves as a reminder that we as a city are in a constant reconstructive state and that we must be able to face it. We are blinded by the beauty and conveniences of Mt Vernon Park, due to its accessibility and its locale. It serves as one of the safest and most trafficked locations in the entire city. So the park is taken away from us for a split second of our lifetime, and sure it is kind of a pain for us lazy people who have to walk around the park, instead of through it. To all who are complaining: Start noticing the things in the park you never have before. What’s different, new and exciting due to a helpful facilitator known as the gold chain link fence (and Mr. Lee Freeman)? A little fence never hurt anyone and maybe everyone will be able to see the park for what it is - through the luxury of gold chain links.

So,how is it that nobody has just torn this down ? Direct action gets the goods ! Why didn't the artist do this in his home town of NYC ?

Mr. McNatt,

It's Mt. Vernon Place, not Mt. Vernon Square. See former Sun writer John Dorsey's book of the same name for details. http://tinyurl.com/3da687

I drove up Charles Street and saw the fences for the first time yesterday and did not know what it was all about. I must admit, at first I was shocked, but then I noticed that it did make me "see" the parks for the first time in a long while. The existence of the fences drew my attention to the green spaces, which I usually ignore. It was not quite on a par with Christo, but I believe art is by definition provocative, and in that regard this project is clearly succeeding.

Ok who is to say what is good and bad art, really. He did his job he got us all talking about it didn't he. And I am sure as an artist he will get a few jobs out of this. But I find it very sad that we do forget the people who live around us when we take on projects even as we claim to do it for them. People need green space to sit, read, think and find space from the city to take that away from them for any reason is a very sad thing. Even if only for two weeks. You don't know how important that space may have been to someone. We all must think before we act not just about what an action can DO for us but how it effects even the smallest most forgotten of us.

Over the course of the 2 weeks that this project is up (TWO WEEKS!), I hope that the folks of Mt. Vernon will question why fences of any kind can just "go up" (ala Berlin/Texas/Isreal) without consent from neighborhoods. Look at your space a bit differently. You are lucky to have such a nice park to chill out in. Go about 1 mile either east or west and make contact with that "space." Let the kids challenge you....for 2 weeks.

Is not art to evoke a dialogue? Consider the fence dialogue provoked.
Personally I think the fence is fantastic, like a good book, for all the ideas it presents and asks us to think about.

Where am I supposed to run my dog? This is the only green space in Mt. Vernon.

I get that its art. I get that I'm supposed to re-vision the park.

Construction fencing in a city that is undergoing mass urban redevelopment hardly rises above the clutter. Everywhere I go, I see fences. Metal fences, plastic fences, fences to fence in fences.

The big and tall of it is that this is Baltimore and the installation is just another fence.

The whiners and the defenders are the same too. Do anything new in this town and you can set your watch by the speed with which righteous indignation surfaces. And as sure as dawn follows night along come the defenders - vested or not.

If someone has an ah-ha moment, I hope they share it with the rest of us.

By the way, what's the new bib on General Lafayette all about?

What Mr. Freeman has failed to realize is that Mt. Vernon Park is not merely an abstract 'space' to be viewed from various perspectives. It is a civic space, a space for community. It is not merely a place of beauty to be observed from the outside. It is a meeting place, a gathering place, a place where the very best things in the city - human things - can happen. Friends laugh together, lovers kiss, strangers meet, dogs run in the grass, children hunt for easter eggs (not this year). The beauty of Mt Vernon Place doesn't lie merely in its phenomenal architecture or its sculpture garden. These are fantastic, to be sure. But their beauty is enhanced by the human interactions that take place within, around and upon them.

In a world in which we spend most of our time being separated from each other by cubicle walls and car windows, a world in which we spend most of our time surrounded by dry wall and concrete, Mt. Vernon Place offers a respite from our islolation, a place to connect with each other and with the beauty and history of our surroundings. The artist, in a misguided attempt to refocus our perspective has succeeded only in removing the very things that infuse the park with its life. Perhaps he thought that we needed to be kept out of our park in order to recognize its value. Young man, we have known its value all along. Perhaps he thought that there aren't enough walls and fences separating us, or that we needed one more to remind us of the others. Perhaps the very young, who only now notice these walls, think that others need their attention drawn to them. I, and many others, have been long aware of them. That is why our park is so important to us.

From the fact that this project is generating 'dialogue' (read 'outrage'), it does not follow that it is a successful artwork. Many acts of violence generate outrage (and thereby, dialogue). When someone breaks into my car and steals my things, I am outraged from a sense of injustice. But, the act of the thief is hardly an artistic performance, regardless of her intentions. This artist has committed a similar act of violence against residents of and visitors to our city. No wonder he generates 'dialogue'.

You have done an injustice to the park by removing the life from a space that was meant to be lived in, not merely observed. And you have done an injustice to the people whose lives are made better every day by having the opportunity to live with others in such a magnificent surrounding. MICA should clearly do more to provide its students with an education that focuses not solely on the creation of 'art', but also on creating students with a sense of moral and civic duty.

Take this fence down.

I understand that there are those of you who live in Mt. Vernon and say that you have always appreciated the park and that you don't need to "re-see" it. What about those who now appreciate the park for what it is and are "re-seeing" the park? Isn't that worth something? Even if it has only accomplished that goal in a few people it has brought about an even bigger change - a buzz, a dialog between people about a space that everyone cares about. Think about what is really going on here...it's not about having a place to poop your dog...it's about something so much bigger than that and if you are too angry to realize that than I can feel nothing for you but pity.

I'll see you "artists" in a few years when you're bagging my groceries.

Having public art on display is great. do it- give passer byers something to talk about. but poor planning is to be blamed in this scenario. in contrast to when the city decides to block portions of the parks surrounding the monument with orange fences, this art endeavor chooses to close down ALL quadrants at one time. I bet no one would have thrown a hissy fit had two of the four areas been available for those to walk to their dogs in, etc. i dont know why all four had to be monopolized at once.

Show your opposition to this fence tonight by being part of a protest at 5.15 pm at the Washington Monument...
contact openthefence@gmail.com to show your support !

This isn't art; it's a statement. Confusion between visibility and talent is one of the reason that the arts are being ignored. Let's not pretend this is Vermeer, here. This is the Brittany Spears of art projects.

I'll choose to ignore the obvious: that an artist deciding what I MUST learn and deeming that I take the park for granted is TRUE arrogance. To label a diverse community known for its blend of students, families, cultures, economic levels as "elitistic" smacks of poorly conceived anarchist ramblings. If you want to challenge "elitists", then why not put the fences across the streets of tony Bolton Hill in MICA's own neighborhood, or across the walkways of Harborplace, or Canton? Guess the city wouldn't have stood for that and, like the accusations you level against dog owners, would be tandamount to defecating in your own backyard. I'm sure MICA's neighbors would have had something to say to the Institute about good neighbors if they had posted this annoyance in their own neighborhood.

And has anyone who supports this exhibit stopped to think: this "exhibit" take away one of the few public spaces where the homeless can and -until this week- have spent hours. Way to go. Who's elitist now?

PS: Love the new clown garb on Lafeyette. That's the way to honor heros. Maybe a clown nose on General Washington should be next?

I posted before, and no doubt that the fence has created quite a stir and evoking several different types of reactions but let's further examine a few things here.

we have this green beautiful space accessible to all on a day to day basis. No one wants to venture outside of this convienience and safety zone in order to walk their dog or experience something unfamiliar to them. Seriously if there is this much uproar concerning a two week installation of a fence and it is generating this much hype, start thinking more locally as residents of the area and of the city. If we all had this strong of a reaction to something so miniscule as this fence, then why aren't we drawing our attention to larger issues within the city, instead of bitching about where our dogs can't poop for two weeks? If you don't take the time to fully understand the piece and instead disregard it, it says alot about who you are as people who cannot give something up for a minute in the grand scheme of things and instead spend all of your time making and creating signs that say exculsionist ( i mean come on who put all of that effort into those stickers) or even the people who have plotted to deface the property, and even the protests. The park is still open legally. It is illegal to destroy the artists property.

And as for Lafayette. Seriously folks, do your research. It's not like anyone has really ever valued the signifigance of the statues before (that is a generalization, but I feel that they are completly ignored). Rebecca Nagle created these garmets for the statues with various community groups throughout the city. She wanted to impact the viewer by drawing attention to the statues while simultaneously creating a way to work with communities to seek out representations of Baltimore's rich history.

READ UP ON THESE ARTISTS WORK.. then form your opinions!

I used to live next to the park. I had a dog, and the park was one of the only places to take your pet. We pet owners were diligent about keeping it clean, and many friendly meetings were had there. I daresay I appreciated the park quite a lot, and didn't need some pretentious art student to grant me the "gift" of excluding me from one of my favorite places downtown. Ms. Dixon, tear that fence down!

Not very rigorous, dude. A 3-dimensional idea. A diagram. An arrogant statement. Is this art of today? I'm bored.

IT'S A FENCE. FENCES AREN'T ART. GET A REAL IDEA

I might choose to think about the artist's work, if he hadn't forced me out of my park. He is the one who made this a coercive issue. You can not force feed something, and then reasonably expect a calm rational dialog about how it tasted.

I am an artist myself, and I appreciate public art. I do not appreciate the misappropriation of public funds and space, especially when it so pathetically masquerades as "art".

The fact that the city and Walters agreed to this project speaks very poorly of this community. Either, this is the best Baltimore has to offer (which i refuse to believe), or the truly talented artists in the community are not respected by the aesthetes of influence. In any case, it is a very sad commentary that a project requiring this level of authoritarian complicity is so utterly hackneyed and insipid. Maybe this is what we should expect from state sponsored art.

It is not illegal to enter the park. It is not illegal to remove a section of the fence as long as you do not damage or vandalize the fence. The park is still open to the public and it is not trespassing to enter the parks. The fence can easily be removed from the concrete anchors. Just make sure you don't damage the artwork and put the fence back when you are done.

Based upon the sheer volume of responses - I would say that this artwork (or not) has succeeded. Any thing that can create this much public dialogue, for better or worse is doing exactly what it's supposed to - make people think and act. That's the whole purpose of art.

I just think I would have been more receptive to the whole concept if the entire park wasn't being used. If they would have just fenced in, say, two of the four sections of the park - I'd be much more willing to just sit back and enjoy whatever they were going to do. By fencing in the entire park, they've turned me (and clearly a lot of other people) off.

We "elitists" residents in Mt. Vernon always seem to be on the receiving end of rude comments.

While we love and enjoy the parks at Mt.Vernon Place because we feel they are integral to the quality of life in our neighborhood we also realize that the entire city lays claim to this beautiful urban space. To be sure, the ongoing stewartship of the parks is directly due to the diligence of the residents of Mt.Vernon, i.e. Friends of Mt.Vernon Place, with the help of the City Parks Department.

However we are often castigatged by non-residents, lately MICA student artists and other folks, but just as often by church soup kichens (cursing, public urination, strewn trash & loitering), political protesters (trampled grass, excessive noise & trash) , social justice protesters (trampled grass, excessive noise and trash) Concerts in the Park celebrants (trampled grass, really excessive noise, garbage and trash), Flower Mart & Book Fair vendors and celebrants (i.e. grease & garbage in the gutters, noise, trash, traffic disruption and trampled grass), Walters Museum fundraisers (i.e. blocked streets, noise), etc, etc, etc. all year long. So I would say we are more generous with our little park than perhaps any other neighborhood in Baltimore City.

Just for the record, I find most of my fellow residents to be hardworking, intelligent, open minded & engaged citizens who work tirelessly to make Mt.Vernon Place and the surrounding neighborhood a better place for all, whether they live, work, study or play in our neighborhood.

About 6 weeks ago the MVBA gave a very polite hearing to the MICA students and their facilitators of their art event at a general meeting. Although many residents residents left the meeting shakin their heads in bewilderment at the students' premise for the art works none of the residents were rude and none of the students were rude. I also might add that this was a done deal, the residents weren't given a choice but instead we were "notified" of the art event about 6 weeks in advance.

So I ask you, just who are the elitists?

Excuse me, but who exactly is "elitist" when you, an art student from NYC comes in and tells those who actually live in Mt. Vernon they're not appreciating their own backyard? How often did you sit out in the park one afternoon to soak in the culture, the life, the activity, the landmarks you claim to be hi-lighting by taking it all away? Or were you too "busy" to think of anything better for your senior thesis? Seriously if art = outrage, then the 5 middle school students responsible for the December beating on the MTA bus are Picassos. Yet, I don't see MICA offering them scholarships (thankfully). What hurts the most is that an "artist" like this can get such reaction out of such pretentious behavior when others such as myself spend 10 or more hours a day painting for a paycheck.

I disagree with the notion that by "creat[ing] this much public dialogue [the fence], for better or worse is doing exactly what it's supposed to - make people think and act".

Consider the absurdity of the statement. By that same logic, hanging confederate flags across the city would be a valid statement in that it would stir discourse among the residents of this city. That some would be offended is secondary to the fact that such a statement would make people think.

If the only purpose of this "exhibit" is to stir controversy - then it fails as art.

One of the things the fence has made me consider is all the invisible fences throughout Baltimore. Ever taken a wrong turn and found yourself in a neighborhood where you didn't feel comfortable, or welcome? As much as we might want public parks to be truly shared spaces, the truth is that such is rarely the case - parks get used by groups in turn, and often at the exclusion of other groups. Some are bothered when people are letting their dogs run loose in the park, others might feel uneasy having homeless people around, and others feel put out by WTMD's concerts. As Mt. Vernon continues to gentrify, plenty of people will start to feel gilded out of the neighborhood, just as many do now in other parts of the city.

And Glenn McNatt needs to brush up on his Christo - plenty of his installations have been exclusionary in the same way that the Gold Fence is.

I did not until now know that as a Mt. Vernon resident I am now an "elitist", or "eletist" as some have spelled. I have a new appreciation for myself. Thank you, artists. I guess you wouldn't like to know that I personally cleaned up my block of Mt. Vernon by evicting 30 drug addicts, drug dealers, and prostitutes that used to inhabit the “crack mansion” I bought and am restoring. I’ve had complete strangers come up to me on the street and hug me for making their block safe again, but alas I am a selfish, self-serving “elitist”.

A little history lesson for you young artists… Mt. Vernon was built as an “elitist” neighborhood, and remained so until the middle of the 20th century. When I was in college at Peabody in the 1980s, Mt. Vernon had declined to having become a haven for drug addicts, street hustlers, and squatters – it was in short a ghetto with beautiful buildings and a few stalwart resident/restorers. It is through the hard work of the “elitists” like myself who dumped tons of our own money and sweat equity into restoring these architectural treasures, that the neighborhood is even safe enough for the artists to launch such an exhibit. And having lived in Berlin during the 80s as well I don’t need to be told what borders, walls, and fences mean, or why the fence is gilded like the frame of a painting. All rather simplistic and a big waste of money if you ask me.

And as for the assumption that anyone should be able to live with this inconvenience as it is “only” 2 weeks, tell that to the aged at Elderhostel, the numerous retirement homes, and my friend in his 80s living in Washington Place that now have to go way out of their way to get around the neighborhood.

Don’t presume to tell the “elitists” of Mt. Vernon, the community that has historically patronized the arts more than any other community in the City, what we should think, feel, and do. I for one, then, am glad to be in the company of other great “elitists” such as George Peabody, Johns Hopkins, and Henry Walters. Long live the “elitists”.

Interesting discussion. Last time there were fences around the parks (mid-19th c.), Mt. Vernon Place really was elitist.

http://tinyurl.com/2b44j7

These days, not so much.

What follows is my email interaction with Councilman William Cole regarding the reopening of the park:

From: Michael B
Sent: Wed 3/19/2008 3:59 PM
To: Cole, William
Subject: Please open the park.

Dear Mr. Cole,

I appreciate public displays of art. However, the coercive exclusion
of residents from a treasured public space, for the sole purpose of
"artistic" statement, is not the display of art, but the involuntary
imposition of it.

It seems that there is a very reasonable compromise that could be
reached. Why not allow the artist to display his work (the fence),
while allowing the community, which appreciates and takes advantage of
this civic treasure on a daily basis, to access the park via the gates
that the Dept. of Parks and Recreation workers use to perform
maintenance.

I would hope that in a neighborhood that claims an intellectual and
urbane population, we could find a way to such an apparently obvious
compromise. Please let us back into our park.

Sincerely,
Michael B
X E. Read Street.

Mr. Cole's Repsonse

I just made that very request. I don't understand the art, so I can't really comment on the look of it. I can say that restricting access to the community makes zero sense.

I'm working on it.

Thanks,
Bill Cole

----------------------
William H. Cole
Baltimore City Council, 11th District
City Hall, Room 527
100 N. Holliday Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 396-4816
william.cole@baltimorecity.gov

Dear Sirs--

I am writing to complain about the erection of the fence around the fours squares of Mt Vernon Place. I think it is a very bad idea on a number on levels, and that those responsible for it ought to take responsibility and remove it immediately.

First, the alleged artist himself. His product is not just incredibly ugly, but attests to a dispiriting lack of imagination. This bodes ill for Mr Freeman future as an artist, if he ever had one. The overwhelmingly negative response to his 'creation' leaves no doubt as to the lack of aesthetic value of his abominable fence. In response, Mr Freeman argues that art is not supposed to create beauty, but "seeing and being aware," whatever that may mean. His views are preposterous, if they make any sense at all. While he's entitled to them, he's clearly not entitled to the use of public space to express those views, and to the disruption their expression causes. He really must find a private space willing to accomodate his gibberish, rather than inflict it upon innocent residents of Mt Vernon.

Second, the administrators of the Walters Museum and everybody at MICA responsible for allowing this monstrosity to occur. If these persons intend to claim any artistic expertise, it has failed them badly: obviously, the fence elicits mostly revulsion, annoyance, and contempt in its intended audience. They ought to acknowledge their monumental mistake, and take steps to repair it. If they didn't act as experts, then they have behaved very undemocratically, by choosing to go ahead with a dismal, disrutpive project without consultation, popular deliberation or any inkling of how the people of Baltimore will react. Consulting the people was probably the last of their concerns--the project description mentions "possibly forcing people to see" Mt Vernon in a new light. Not only does this smacks of authoritarianism, but it's unbearably elitist. I'm quite sure the good people of Baltimore all see Mt Vernon Place from their own different, interesting, and valuable perspectives. They don't need to be told what to "see" by a group of alienated academics who can't even articulate their views coherently.

Third, the MVBA and the local government representatives at the City Hall. While your intention to mount an on-site exhibition was commendable, the final product is very disruptive to the daily activities of local residents. And it is these very residents who are your proper constituency, not some self-conceited artist devoid of any interesting, useful ideas. You have therefore failed in your basic mission--to act in the best interests of the people who entrusted you with your mandate. Instead, you allowed yourself to be bullied by a group of pretended artists who patently have no regard for the wishes and needs of Mt Vernon residents.

I hope you will, at last, see the enormity of your collective mistake, and choose to respond to the demands of those you are supposed to serve. Remove the fence and any trace of its presence in beautiful Mt Vernon Place.

Best regards,

Marius
Mt Vernon, Baltimore

One could in theory simply take down the fence, leave it lying on the ground, and notify one and all that the action is a "performance art" piece entitled "Taking Down The Fence".

Or are others not allowed to declare their own actions "art" when it impacts the original "artist", rather than his "elitist" critics?

This fence is functioning, its job is to create interest, activate space and create conversation. It is Highlighting the Mt Vernon Place squares more than anything has ever before. It is nice to see art the activates space like that, those parks are buzzing with energy. I LOVE it.

Shame on MICA and George Ciscle for the misleading statement about this project on their webpage.

The statement claims that the MVBA and the Friends of Mt. Vernon "were involved in the approval process" and that MICA "worked closely with community groups" in seeking input on the project. What they fail to mention is that both organizations voiced opposition. I quote Paul Warren of the MVBA:

"This was NOT done with the approval of MVBA (or Friends of Mt. Vernon Place in as much as I am aware) - in fact our Architectural Review Committee expressed a number of concerns and recommended a number of pre-requisites to the approving agency (CHAP) well in advance of the permit. Few, if any concerns were addressed, yet the project was approved by the staff of CHAP. "

The letter MICA sent to these organizations on March 11 (reproduced on their web page) was merely a notification that the installation was to go forward.

Shame on MICA for falsely suggesting to the public that it had the support of our community groups.

It seems the "artist's" vision was lost on me. As I passed thru Mt Vernon all I saw was construction fence. It did not make me think about the park. I just thought another building project was going on. Artists need to consider their audiences when designing "art". Art that doesn't easily convey the intended message is the same as spoken gibberish. Most of the "art" on display along Mt. Royal Ave near MICA is gibberish. It looks like a junk yard. I can't discern any meaning. If a piece of art requires a written explanation, write a book about how you feel instead of taking up space with junk. As for the fence around the park, if I wanted to use the park I'd be quite upset when I found out that the fence wasn't there for safety, it was there for "art". This just proves there is a fine line between art and absurdity.

My selfish intention was to let my grandchildren use the Mount Vernon Place park to hunt eggs on Easter Sunday. Thanks a lot, whoever approved this installation.

On the website for the fence project is a page of photos chronicling the progress of the installation. One might notice that ALL of the MICA students pictured are white, while NONE of the workers installing the fence are white. Heck, even all of the characters in the ANIMATION sequence are white! Now, who was charging whom with elitism?

so you have lived here for 100 years and know that nothing prior to this has energized the park. I somehow doubt it.

Salvatore, maybe I am looking at the wrong park, but the one outside my window is empty. It is the opposite of "buzzing with life". Before the fence, the park was a forum for social interaction. Now it is devoid of life. How asinine.

http://mdhsimage.mdhs.org/Library/Images/Mellon%20Images/Z24access/z24-01080.jpg

Looky, looky. "Elitist" women in the park demonstrating for the right to vote in 1917. How dare those Mt. Vernon "elitists" meet in the park to demand suffrage. Didn't they realize that their efforts would pale in comparison to the Great Dumb Fence of 2008?

come on folks, here's how you get even, just take your dogs on a long walk and let em do their business in front of MICA's very elitist white marble Main Building. :-)

I must admit, I was on the fence when I first saw this today. The artist came up to me and spoke with me when he saw me walk a lap around the circle of the Monument. He explained well that the construction fence seems appropriate. Despite the permanence of these monuments, things are changing in the park. Perspectives are changing daily, depending on what you intend to use the park for (rarely is this relative to the history that is so evident), and now the park is changing into an exhibition grounds. Later it will change for flower mart. However timeless you think the park is or should be you are wrong because the time you spend there is applied. A well spoken bright soul with a good future and he starts a great conversation that has enough to go on for two more weeks. If this were any other park, would we care?

There is enough in this park to think about again from another perspective!

Bravo

when you're rich enough to live in Mt Vernon you are cursed with students exercising their legal right to obtain permits from the city and install their work.

When you're poor enough to live in East or West Baltimore you're cursed with toxic waste and drug dealers preventing you from entering your local park.

You tell me which is worse!

Please continue the correspondence with local community leaders to get this "art" removed. This is a blight on the neighborhood and community leaders should act quickly to have this trash removed.

Anyone with half a brain realizes that the park is filled with art. This fence is nothing more than debris restricting our view of the art alive in the sculptures in the park. Fool.

Sheesh people, why not just start burning books? It's art. Like it or not. If anything, I think it's amusing how much ruckus a simple fence has caused.

I find it even more amusing that the writer of this article is critical of someone else's artistic interpretation. One might say the same about your writing.

Not like he's displaying dead bodies in a public forum or something.

Oh wait.

That's happening at the Science Center.

One of the dumbest things ever. What a waste. Sure, it will inspire dialogue...but only because it is so ridiculous. What else is there to say?

The fence will probably be removed sooner than March 29, 2008. Perhaps the artist should be fenced out of somewhere that he likes to go for a month. That would be art too and it would inspire dialogue. ???

*Sigh*
Let's see... In 1981, sculptor Richard Serra had an opportunity to permanently install a "public art" piece at the Federal Plaza in NYC and almost as soon as the piece was erected, controversy began. In a matter of days, a cultural war between artists, critics, judges, government officials, workers, plaza goers, and just plain old people erupted into full throttle. The discourse of the art piece reached far beyond the actual work itself (which was quite beautiful in my opinion), but the matter of the fact is that, majority of the New Yorkers were mad, and the piece was forcefully removed and replaced by the less artistic and more welcoming swirling purple benches with rolling hills. The placement of Art has it's boundaries.

Now, turning my attention to this fence.

Giving Mr. Freeman the benefit of doubt that he is unbelievably talented and his credibility of being a sculptor is unquestioned, this public art piece is indeed (as Mr. McNatt stated) "bad art"; Not because it is done by a student, or that the artist himself is "morally blind", or it is preventing your dog from pooping on the lawn, or even that people think it's ugly. This Fence has been done before and it pains me to see it happening again. It's like putting the signed urinal by Duchamp back in the gallery and painting it gold... wait a second, didn't that happen too? (Sherrie Levine's fountain after Marcel Duchamp) Now I'm not saying that good art has to be completely original, but this is not a case of appropriation but a case of plagiarism. The temporary controversy caused by this fence will fade just as any mainstream shallow controversy fades: A brief 15 minutes of fame and soon enough, no one will care or even remember.
After re-considering the space around The Squares of Mount Vernon Place, I've come to conclude that this is a disaster in every way. *Sigh*

One more note: This is yet again an example of art flakes living in a world of their own and ignoring established conventions of society. And they wonder why people think artists are weirdos. I wonder when "artistic personality disorder" will be classified a mental illness and art schools become insane asylums?

Let's put the fence around the hideous "Man/Woman art". I doubt the public would mind having their access limited to that "art".

This isn't art. Painting a fence gold and blocking everyone's access to a beautiful park is just being an a--hole. I didn't need this guy to block off the park to make me rethink or appreciate it. The only thing that makes me smile about this is he actually went into credit card debt over this. That sucks for him since most people hate it.

We should put fences around the Copy Cat and the H and H building. You know, make them appreciate their ability to live in sub standard housing full of heroin addicts so they can be more art like. I hear a lot of people talking about being rich and living in Mount Vernon, how much does MICA cost again? This is pure crap.

Dear Misguided "MICA Student"... just because a student from MICA spray paints a fence gold and calls it art, don't make it so. I know you crazy kids have been taught that just about anything you do is "art" just because you and your professors say so, but again, that don't make it so. You little buddies "art" is a crime in that it blocks access to a public space that is enjoyed by everyone in the neighborhood. So much of what you children do and call art is just narcissistic navel-gazing garbage ... between a bunch of smug "artists" that think they know it all so much better than a general public. If you want to do the city a favor, why not put a big gold brick wall around MICA and it's environs so that the citizens of Baltimore can be spared the site of a bunch of clones dressed in black, with clown colored hair and too much kohl, reeking of patchouli and claiming that uniform look makes them alternative and interesting (it does neither).

Whooops

The MICA students forgot gold razor wire on top the fence.

Its the artistic touch to show a community held hostage "For Arts Sake" A chain link fence is not art.

In a park, Nature is Art. It does not need human artist intervention.

For confused MICA students, I refer you to the literary works of Emerson and Walden .

For the residents and park lovers keep fighting!

This is not art - no matter how you try to package it. It is simply an ugly spray painted cheap industrial fence.

It is merely a misguided attempt by an unclear thinking self-important "artist" whose affiliation with MICA has given him the power to make it happen.

There is no doubt that this fool believes that the negative reaction is part of his "art." (These arrogant fools do think like that!)

Moral people do not play psychological games with people and call it "art."

The "artist" is clearly naive and his "work" nothing more than vandalism, but I don't think he deserves even the majority of the blame for this. The city is to blame for permitting such a hideous display that infringes on the rights of the entire community. We should let our elected officials know how we feel about this.

Another lesson for all of you who think art is supposed to generate discussion; IT ISN'T. A debate is a discussion. Art is supposed to be aesthetically pleasing, ornamental, decorative and not a barrier or eyesore or other ugly piece of junk that make visitors to Baltimore think Charm City is Flake City (Man/Woman statue at the train station). As I recall from history of civilization classes (real classes taught at a real college), art evolved as free time became available when agricultural techniques allowed for more efficient food production. The first artists were people who had nothing better to do. It seems that tradition has never changed.

Since MICA arts believe in Art so does the community.

I would like to make a suggested art endowment to the community. I would love to contribute.

They are Bolt Cutters from your local hardware store. The bolt cutters symbolize the hard working people that have been excluded from the park.

Look at the bolt cutters.
Look at the hard labor by workers it took to make these bolt cutters.

With this art item you can artistically free the workers to use the park by removing the gold shackles that close this park for the artist elite.

This masterpiece of expressionism would improve the lives of the working class that have been left out by these elitists.

If everyone thought about Art the way MICA thinks about Art, I doubt Europe would have been built. Keep on wasting our tax dollars. In the meantime, the unqualified "elitist" masses will continue enjoying the dead artists as they have no real competition.

Read the "Tilted Arc", I'm sure Lee Freeman has. All the arguments I've read above could be replaced with quotes from that book. The point of an artist is to start a dialogue. I'm just not sure if the dialogue here is necessary. It seems like everyone already loved and used the park. I like the artists idea but then again I only drive by it. Should public art cater to all or just to the community it directly effects?

Clearly we're all in agreement that this is bad art. What bugs me most is the assumption that all people in mt. vernon are bourgeois. Many people struggle hard everyday to pay their rent, in my case and in the case of many of baltimore's working class gays, we work extra hard so we can live near our cultural center. Waiters and retail workers are hardly "elites". This kid needs to get a clue about the class composition of mt. vernon before he gets up in arms over the fact that we took care of our park. We're one of the most mixed and vibrant sections of baltimore. Why critique us? I understand the piece btw, and alot of new are is about "interventions in space" and "transformative practices rather than art objects" I agree with that trend in art, but this is a misdirected piece, its coercive.

Actually i decided i like this piece. It highlights MICA's anti-democratic instituional authority in the city, and calls for that authority to be pulled down, literally, by pulling down this fence. Baltimore has a rich community of local working class artists and consitently international artists and art student poseurs tramble on or ignore our vibrant arts community in their misdirected pseudo-art. Clearly a critique of baltimore's spatial politics needs to happen; but not by some petit-bourgeois brat from MICA. Lets fund some of the awesome working artists in swebo, i'm sure they ACTUALLY have something to teach us in a DEMOCRATIC way about development, spatial organization, and the city.

As part of the MICA community, colleagues brought this blog to my attention. I decided, out of curiosity, to take a look at this sunspot “dialogue.” Unlike, previous bloggers, who clearly like to pontificate, I will not add anymore exaggerated rhetoric to this site.

First, let us discuss the concept of art. The merit of art is not judged on its convenience. Or perhaps you may do not consider the work art for aesthetic reasons, but the same civil liberties that allows Mr. Freeman to display his art, are the same civil liberties that allows you to write in and respond as part of a free dialogue as well as enjoy the Mt Vernon Square as a commons. This freedom is what separates the United States from many countries. Freedom is why people would risk their lives to immigrate to the United States.

Second, my concern is about the residents of Mt. Vernon, Baltimore’s cultural district. One of the reasons that Mt. Vernon is a cultural district includes MICA and many other like minded individuals and institutions. Perhaps this notion of culture is why you do not live in any other part of Baltimore and why you look forward to Artscape (sponsored by and located on MICA), the Book Fair and the Flower Mart. For those Mt. Vernon residents that are outraged, the fact that this fence had the potential to force you out of your neighborhood is probably what makes you so angry. You may have felt forced to participate in the non-cultured environments that surround you: predominantly black, non-gentrified neighborhoods, where annually, over 250 people are murdered. I wonder if the citizens in those communities wish to express their outrage about what is happening in their commons? Perhaps the next time that you want to express community outrage about what is happening in your neighborhood, you should think "outside the square,"much like this exhibition is asking and use this power and rage towards something meaningful, that affects everyone, 365 days a year, not just two weeks (well a few days). Use those civil liberties to make change, like keeping people alive. Or if you want to keep it in the hood, show concern about the illegal commercial sex workers and high rate of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse and homelessness that occurs more than two weeks in your square.

this final post is the ultimate example of the artist's and his MICA defenders leninist approach to consciousness raising. you and the artist of this piece assume a particularly apathetic political consciousness on the part of mt. vernon's citizens, and then proscribe to force us to learn differently. You assume ignorance and then coerce learning! This is the same logic of domination which the police, land developers, and landlords use to keep the rest of baltimore down! Not to mention MICA's institutional role in the under-developement/gentrification cycle. Had this student levelled his critique against his own institution instead of a community of which he is not a member, it would have turned out as good art. Instead it only stood out as an example of class priveledge, vanguardism, and an aggressive domineering act. His point could just have easily been accomplished with "golden signposts" pointing outward to other neighborhoods. He chose an authoritarian method. THAT is our anger.

this final post is the ultimate example of the artist's and his MICA defenders leninist approach to consciousness raising. you and the artist of this piece assume a particularly apathetic political consciousness on the part of mt. vernon's citizens, and then proscribe to force us to learn differently. You assume ignorance and then coerce learning! This is the same logic of domination which the police, land developers, and landlords use to keep the rest of baltimore down! Not to mention MICA's institutional role in the under-developement/gentrification cycle. Had this student levelled his critique against his own institution instead of a community of which he is not a member, it would have turned out as good art. Instead it only stood out as an example of class priveledge, vanguardism, and an aggressive domineering act. His point could just have easily been accomplished with "golden signposts" pointing outward to other neighborhoods. He chose an authoritarian method. THAT is our anger. I can't count the number of social radicals who have been fighting the battles you're talking about FOR YEARS, that live in mt. Vernon.

other side,

I didn't know MICA was located in Mt. Vernon. How about putting up a fence around the Bolton Hill park in your own backyard? I'm sure the more open-minded residents of your own neighborhood would have no problem with it. I'm sure they would value the "artist's" personal rights to free speech over the greater good of the community. And you wonder why people leave this good city for suburbs?

MICA, once again, stop telling us what we should believe, feel, and do. All the people I know in Mt. Vernon have their hands full picking up all the trash left by people who come to this nieghborhood to enjoy the cultural spots and the bars. The last thing I want to deal with is more trashy-looking "art" junking up the place. Don't get me wrong, we welcome the visitors, we just don't want more junk forced on us.

I am glad to read of MICA's decision to re-open the park to public use this afternoon.

I got into an altercation earlier with three of the individuals working on the installation when I took advantage of an opening in the fence to stroll in the park. I was brusquely accosted by a man and a woman who informed me that I was not permitted to enter the park, due to the installation work. When I protested that I was simply taking a walk in a public space, I was told that the artist had obtained all the necessary permissions from the city to enclose the space, and that they were not the persons responsible for making the decisions. Rather, those were two MICA professors.

That seemed reasonable to me. So I asked whether either of those professors was onsite, and was told that they were. But when I asked for the professors to be pointed out to me so that I might raise my concerns with them, I was told that they would identify the professors. I was then asked if I was a member of the press, to which I replied that I am a simply a taxpaying Baltimore resident who works in the neighborhood and wished to walk through the park.

I am troubled by the thought of the public's access to a public space -- one of the only accessible green spaces in Mount Vernon -- prohibited by students and faculty of a local college. I can assure Mr. Freeman that those of us who live and/or work in Mount Vernon are immensely appreciative of the park and its benefits to our community. The thought of being instructed in this regard by a MICA student, particularly in such an arrogant, presumptuous manner, is deeply frustrating.

One of the purposes of art is to provoke. But provocation should not be the sole raison d'etre for art.