Monday, July 18, 2011

Giant Ampersand - Washington/Centinela Redevelopment Part 6

It's been almost 5 years since my last post about the corner lots of Washington and Centinela which are supposedly destined for redevelopment. That's because pretty much nothing has happened on those lots - until this past week.

All of the sudden a 8-foot tall white wooden ampersand appeared in the middle of the lot on the north east corner.  I had no idea what it meant, but I was really happy to see it.  To me it meant that someone out there is thinking about this vacant plot of land.



A little Googling produced an answer.  The mysterious ampersand is a public project by Los Angeles-based artist Shannon Ebner.  According to the LAXART web site:

The ampersand is a conjoiner; it signals an incomplete thought and acknowledges that there is more to be said.

This is part of a Shannon Ebner exhibition at the Hammer Museum which started July 16, 2011.  Apparently this isn't the first time she's used an ampersand in her work.  See this photo from a year ago in Milan.

I've been waiting for the redevelopment on this corner to get underway since I moved to this Del Rey neighborhood 11 years ago.  I really hope, as the giant ampersand acknowledges, that there is more to be said...

3 comments:

Mateo said...

Too bad. Tonight I noticed the giant ampersand (flashing in the dark) and hoped something was finally happening with the lot. Crumb!

SpaceHippy Matt said...

i got a nice time lapse video including Shannon Ebner's Giant Ampersand on Washington/Centinela:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCJHOg-XlrQ

Anonymous said...

Do you have any idea what is going on with this corner - Culver City has created urban blight by bulldozing the existing buildings here and just leaving empty lots. It is absurd that this prime location has sat empty for the last TEN years?!