The Aerie
Hey! They fixed them!
I wrote to the Twin Cities Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) a few weeks ago regarding the art installations called "Small Kindnesses, Weather Permitting" (SKWP) at the Lake Street light-rail station. These are a series of quirky, utilitarian boxes mounted at various points on the light rail stations including downtown Minneapolis and on Lake Street, where I get on board. Each box is supposed to present one of a large number of audio or audiovisual clips when activated.
When I started riding the light rail to work in mid-November, the installations were only one year old and yet the Lake Street series did not function.
The MTC provides a feedback mechanism, so I posted a message letting them know that the SKWP's at Lake Street were not working. I got a call back fairly promptly from a polite lady at MTC, offering her regrets that the boxes weren't working but explaining that they did not have the budget to fix them.
"That doesn't make sense," I told her. "I'm working with a group that's trying to donate an artwork to the Park Board, and a maintenance fund is one of the necessities before the Park Board will even consider the artwork. You're telling me that the MTC accepted 39 art installations and didn't include a maintenance fund?" After a pause the woman said she would look into it and get back to me.
That was about a month ago, and as of this week the installations were working again. The other day I pushed one of the buttons, only to nearly jump in surprise when sound started coming out of it. I had the chance to listen to a story about a woman who found a mouse outside in weather so cold that when she held out her hand the mouse climbed into it for warmth.
Today I tried out the unit pictured above, with the windshield wiper and the wheel. I sat on the bench and turned the crank, and was treated to a small film about a woman from Oklahoma applying for Minnesotan citizenship. She met the Hot Dish requirement, but unfortunately made an Iowa joke before she learned the applications clerk was from Iowa.
It was fun. Given the frequency with which the trains run, there's only time to watch or listen to one of these presentations before the train comes. Still, I was quite impressed as I sat there waiting for the train.
It's little things like this, like the Cherry Spoon, and the Peanuts Statues that set the Twin Cities apart. That show our whimsy, and our sophistication at the same time.
As I sat there, thinking about our regional sophistamication, I happened to move my foot, and heard a soft "spat" sound. Looking down, I realized that I had just put my shoe in somebody's still-steaming puddle of sick.
So much for sophistication.