The Green Streets in Belltown, the east-west streets that run down towards the Bay, have special design requirements for landscape, public space, and public art (in other words, private property is required to contribute to the public realm - what a novel concept). While not requiring art specifically, the street fronts are required to be activated in some way. Because the streets below 1st Avenue are steeply sloping, it is difficult to put active storefront use on those sides; that space is most often required for a parking garage, as well. So, in addition to landscaping, the garage facades get decorated in some way. Some buildings put up event posters. Some have a permanently applied art detail of some sort. One of the more intriguing applications is on the Clay Street side of the Avenue One condo building: the CoCA Belltown gallery space.
When I first saw this I thought of it as the "art locker". There was one excellent exhibit in there for a very long time, which I assumed was permanent, until it went away and something else came in. It is a changing exhibition space. The current exhibit is called Visual Poetry, by Haris Purnomo. It's much more sinister looking now; you really should go see it, if you'd like to stretch out your Artwalk tonight. I always walk up Clay Street to get to 1st Ave; this art space makes the hill climb more worthwhile. Some photos of this and other recent exhibits:
Some other (not as interesting) Green Street treatments:
Cross-posted to Inside Belltown
Leave a comment