Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The traditional narrative of 20th Century New York urban living has often concerned itself with the antipodal philosophies of urban planner Robert Moses and critic Jane Jacobs. This binary conception of American urban life contrasted Moses’ radical projects to remake NYC to suit the automobile with Jacobs’ admonishments that quality of life required small, organic neighborhoods of diverse inhabitants and independent businesses. These philosophies, however, were no longer applicable in 1970s NYC. In a new city characterized by crisis, ruins, and abandonment, a fundamentally new way of conceiving of the urban realm was required. The artist, activist, and ‘un-builder’ Gordon Matta-Clark was one of the first to explore and embody an alternative—and he remains a representative figure of the unique culturo-political ferment of 1970s NYC. This paper argues that Matta-Clark’s art, actions, and writings express his vision of the de-industrializing metropolis as a city of possibility and that his approach to the urban realm rejected a clean image of historical continuity in favor of the radical discontinuity of times of disaster. We claim that he accepted the city as it was, presently, for him—dirty, contested, and struggling—and devised strategies for reclaiming dignity amidst a ruinous landscape. A key cultural instigator and advocate for a particular type of urban commons, Matta-Clark was more than an artist and activist; he was, in his unique manner, both an urban planner and urban philosopher—his work embodying Henri Lefebvre’s notion of the ideal city as the “perpetual oeuvre of the inhabitants.”