If You Lived Here: The City in Art, Theory, and Social Activism: A Project by Martha Rosler

New York: Dia Art Foundation; New Press, 1999. 312 pages, illustrations; 23 cm. Discussions in contemporary culture, no. 6. Tight, clean copy. First thus. "This volume documents the present crisis in American urban housing policies and portrays how artists...within the context of neighborhood organizations, have fought against government neglect, shortsighted housing policies and unfettered real estate speculation. Through essays, photographs, symposiums, architectural plans and the reproduction of works from the series of exhibitions organized by [Martha] Rosler, the book serves a number of functions: it's a practical manual for community organizing; a history of housing and homelessness in New York City and around the country; and an outline of what a human housing policy might encompass for the American city" - Publisher. CONTENTS: Preface: the work of art in the (imagined) age of unalienated exhibition, by Yvonne Rainer; Fragments of a metropolitan viewpoint, by Martha Rosler; Alternative space, by Rosalyn Deutsche; The public sphere, by Alexander Kluge; Symposium on homelessness, by The Nation; Housing: gentrification, dislocation and fighting back: Discussion; The tenement: place for survival, object of reform, by The Chinatown History Project; Strange fruit: the legacy of the design competition in New York housing, by Richard Plunz; Housing the homeless mother and child, by Christine Benglia Bevington; 454 St. Nicholas Avenue, by Marie Annick Brown; What is a kilowatt hour? a con ed paper trail, by Clinton Coalition of Concern; The 42nd Street development project; "People who can't afford to live here should move someplace else", by Allan Sekula; Historic Hiram market: decade update, by Tony Massol The artists' home ownership program; Artists' life/work: housing and community for artists: Discussion; Homelessness: conditions, causes, cures: Discussion; Tomkins Square Park, East Village, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York, by Martha Rosler; Homeward bound; Disjointed Days, by Andrew Byard; Our Genetic Cord, by Cene´n; Essential shelter: the mad houser hut, by The Mad Housers; Homes for people with AIDS: a study project on infill housing in New York; Planning: power, politics, and people: Discussion; Unequal development: the two waterfronts, by Dan Wiley; The architecture of fear, by William Price; Rebuilding drug city, by Camilo Jose´ Vergara; The South Bronx of America, by Mel Rosenthal; The Casita Project; Corporate atriums: urban arcadias, by Dan Graham and Robin Hurst; Docklands Community Poster Project; Artists in the exhibitions.. Paperback. Fine. 8vo.