DPPI01: Davis Square Tiles

Posted by DIM on April 6, 2009

  • Managing Directors:
  • Director of the Dept. for the Investigation of Cross-Pollination (DICP)
  • Director of the Dept. for the Investigation of Performance Anxiety (DIPA)
  • Participating Directors:
  • Director of the Dept. for the Investigation of Neutrality and Palatability (DINP)
  • Director of the Dept. for the Investigation of Meaning (DIM)
  • Director of the Dept. for the Investigation of Metaphorical Agency (DIMetA)
  • Director of the Dept. for the Investigation of Tactical Education (DITE)

In 1980, Jackson Gregory and Joan Wye of the Belfast Bay Tile Works worked with children aged 5 to 13 at Somerville’s Powderhouse Community School to create 253 tiles that were later installed in the Davis Square subway stop. These tiles, part of the Arts on the Line program that placed art in and around MBTA rapid transit stations, present a unique opportunity to look back at how Somerville has changed since the opening of the Red Line extension in 1984.

tiles

This “Distributed and Participatory Public Investigation” project will collect the personal histories of the people who created the Davis Square tiles, to be published on the web and possibly in other formats. We are asking volunteers to help us by finding and interviewing one tile-maker. A set of questions is included below – in your interviews, please collect as much of this information as possible. If you are able to contact the artist and they would rather not participate in this project, please let us know so that we can take them off our list.

To participate in the project, please visit http://davissquaretilesproject.com/.

KEYWORDS: community, dppi, gentrification, projects