overcrossings

Overcrossings Project was a series of three happenings on three pedestrian overcrossings above the Interstate-110 Arroyo Seco Freeway during summer 2016. The project culminated in an artist publication. The I-110, celebrated as the world’s first freeway, has cut a wall through the communities of Chinatown, Cypress Park, Highland Park, and South Pasadena. In an attempt to provide safe access across these inhuman spaces, pedestrian overcrossings both accommodate and cage the body.

Sixteen artists and two collectives engaged with each site and its surrounding communities through performance, temporary installations, and/or writing or print-specific projects for the publication. In this alienating maze of concrete and vehicles, how do we inhabit the paths built for walking?

The project takes inspiration from Asco’s publications and guerrilla performances; Erica Avila's book Folklore of the Freeways; Amy Balkin's Invisible-5 project; Project X’s series of artist-led exhibitions and publications; Rebecca Solnit's book Wanderlust: A History of Walking; and the second-line brass bands of Tremé who use the walls of the I-10 to amplify their music and voices.

https://www.overcrossingsproject.com

---

Image | Imagen: 
Arroyo Seco from old railroad trestle north of Avenue 26, looking south, L.A. County, 1940. Courtesy of Auto Club of Southern California Archives.