Two of the year’s most artful protests took place in downtown parks: Kiley Gardens in Tampa and Williams Park in St. Petersburg. At Urban Charrette’s Conceptual Kiley Gardens Project, a display and auction of “trees,” handmade from found and recycled materials, called attention to the disrepair of gardens designed by noted landscape architect Dan Kiley. In St. Petersburg, a coalition of artists called Project: Home built artistic interpretations of “home” — from a portable camp in camouflage to a shrine made of repurposed food containers — to draw attention to homelessness. Since both issues remain unresolved, we hope to see and hear more from both groups in the future.
This article appears in Sep 12-18, 2007.