Park[ing] Day Memories

Park[ing] Day was started five years ago in San Francisco. This is the third organized year for L.A. participation. Two years ago, TTLA worked at a place that hosted a planning meeting. And our pal A. Rooney, now of the Echo Park Time Bank, was quoted about the actual day by the L.A. Times.

Last year, the artist and group TTLA worked with brought to a parking space white-painted palm trees (not pictured) with a contemporary art museum provenance. TTLA conceived and wrote this description, which was printed out in large scale and mounted on the trees' wood planters:

"This pair of SS-25 Sickle Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) was constructed in1985 at the Minsk Wheeled Truck-Tractor Manufacturing Plant located in the current Republic of Belarus and Former Soviet Union (FSU). These 45-ton, three-stage missiles have an attack range of 10,500 kilometers and carry a nuclear warhead. That warhead has been removed for this exhibition.

"The SS-25s and their comrade Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were acquired in 1993 for $59 million by the United States, as part of the Nunn-Lugar Act's Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. This program aimed in part to metastasize Strategic Rocket Forces into productive civilian use. Belarus was briefly the world's eighth-leading nuclear weapons power. The nation is home to 12,000 plant species. Queen palms can spread 25-feet.

"Bibliography: “William Pope L.: Art After White People: Time, Trees, & Celluloid… Santa Monica Musem of Art, 2007,” Lisa Melandri, ed., Santa Monica Musem of Art Publications, 40 pp."

Related land use note: A little Hermann Knoflacher, anyone?

Photo Credit: The image accompanying this post was taken by Flickr user Waltarrrrr. It was used under Creative Commons license.