The Peralta Junction Project

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Title: The Peralta Junction Project
Photo Credit: John Curley, Jesse Roadkill Wilson, Leslie Pritchett
Lead Artist(s):

Contributing Artist(s):
Leslie Pritchett

One Hat one Hand
http://www.onehatonehand.com/

Description:

The Peralta Junction Project was an experiment in urban space activation that used art and an immersive environment to anchor a temporary destination space in West Oakland, California. Calling upon the history of the site and the social make-up of the neighborhood, a large group of artists and volunteers transformed a 40,000 square-foot vacant lot in a very challenged neighborhood into a vibrant arts-based social space that supported local performances, community movies, creative workshops, artisan vendors and Oakland-based food purveyors. The interactive social practice project spanned eight weekends during the fall of 2012 and will serve as a model for future projects in West Oakland and beyond. The project team chose the site, a privately owned fenced lot, at the intersection of what had been an important railway spur and two major roadways—a place that once was and remains an important place of confluence. Artists then explored the juxtapositions of past and present, new influences and old in creating a space that harked back to previous eras, the 1920’s and the 1950’s, while responding to the current context and maintaining a consistent aesthetic. West Oakland is economically and socially struggling but is also an area dense with artists and a place where much industrial and monumental artwork is created. The project team was successful in fostering a collaborative effort that drew artists out from behind warehouse doors and into the public sphere where they helped to form a social space with a compelling and broad invitation to participate.

PROJECT LOCATION

Vacant Lot/Buidling
Located in a vacant lot on the corner of Mandela Parkway and West Grand
2012 Peralta Street
Oakland, CA 94607
United States

click the map to enlarge
PROJECT TEAM

N/A
Commonplace Production
PROJECT DETAILS

Temporary
$80,000
Private
Mixed Media, Painting, Sculpture
LED, Mixed Media, Painting, Wood
Sculpture, painting, mixed media, urban space project
2012
2013
VIDEOS

Embedded thumbnail for 2013 Public Art Network Year in Review: The Peralta Junction Project