Traffic as art

The self-righteous tone of the comments aside, Good Magazine’s blog has a nice photo show of traffic in Los Angeles. I realize that this collection of aerial photographs of mostly single-occupant smogmobiles is probably intended to be a critique of LA’s (and thus the USA’s) automobile dependence, but these photos are visually stunning and, dare I say, beautiful.

It’s amazing to me that I’ve been to LA exactly once, and that I recognize just from sight and memory several of these interchanges — the Los Angeles National Cemetery, the Getty, Elysian Park, downtown — and most of which I saw from the seat of a bicycle.

Years ago, the Philosophy Department at Vanderbilt got comedian John Cleese to record a series of PSAs about philosophy. Some are on ethics, some on metaphysics, some on meaning-of-life questions. I’ve thought for some time that it would be fun to use those PSAs as the audio track for a series of videos. So, consider the video below the first in a series.

Posted on May 7, 2009 
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4 Responses to “Traffic as art”

  1. ebshanks on May 9th, 2009 10:17 am

    My wife’s car has an insanely detailed GPS Navigation system and when we’re near some of these freeway intersections, I just want to stare at the layered swirls on the screen.

    It’s amazing enough to see it rendered graphically. I can’t comprehend the planning, the materials, and the labor that goes into actually creating the real deal.

    Thanks for the link. I’ll definitely check out the exhibit.

  2. Patrick Morrison on May 18th, 2009 2:28 pm

    As a recent transplant from Los Angeles to Durham I can tell you there are lots of artist who utilize the terrain and landscape vernacular as a spring board for some amazing art work. My friend and mentor Lane Barden is one worth checking out (lanebarden.net) as he mapped 52 miles of the Los Angeles rive, from the valley to Long Beach harbor from the air in some amazing digital photo pieces.

    You might also look into an organization called CLUI or the Center for Land Use and Interpreation. They are SoCal based and goo to great lengths to explore how are lands are used, explore sites and present art on the subject.

    Lastly as a photographer and writer myself, I encourage you to keep track of my blog The Accidental Transcendentalist. Im eager to build my local readership.

    Cheers

  3. Josiah on June 11th, 2009 12:47 pm

    Have you ever seen Ed Ruscha’s photos of empty parking lots?

    http://tinyurl.com/n7xjrm

    Look closely, and you’ll see which spots are used the most, etc. Ghostly and awesome.

  4. nicomachus on June 11th, 2009 12:52 pm

    Never heard of ‘em, but thanks for the link. Looks like the Nasher might have one or two — http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/010209/depgal.html

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