

The following is a guest post submitted by Daniel Speciale.

Submit your story today.

Do me a favor. If you’re at home, step outside for a moment and take a good, long look at your driveway and garage (Don’t worry, the Internet will still be here when you get back). If you don’t have a driveway or garage, step outside and catch me a Charmander!

Did you do it? Did you stare intently at your driveway/garage situation? Great! Now, think about it for a moment and answer honestly: Does your car have a bigger bedroom than you do? Seriously. What percentage of the space that you own/rent/occupy is dedicated solely to vehicular storage? Your car isn’t paying rent. Why does it get the biggest room in the house?!

What else could you do with that space the garage sits on? A jam space for your band? Art studio? Game room? Greenhouse? The possibilities are many…



How about that big chunk of pavement on your yard that’s all cracked and busted up? What could we do with that instead of paying someone too much money every couple of years to patch it? An herb garden? Space for a swing-set? You get the idea.

This is almost definitely not your fault. You didn’t build the house (I assume), and you didn’t create the policies that have trapped our city and our country in a state of automobile dependency perpetuated by a built environment that caters almost exclusively to single-occupant-vehicles (I hope. If you did, I’m going to fight you. Right now. We’re going to fight). But you can help change that culture right here in Rochester.

Here’s the deal…



On Friday, September 16th, we’re turning an unused parking lot—a barren wasteland amidst an endless expanse of blacktop, guardrails, and sprouting weeds—into an exciting and enaging public space for Park(ing) Day . One of the many features present will be an art installation, and this is where you come in.

We are looking for submissions of visual art,

in any form, expressing how you would transform, re-purpose, and ultimately revitalize your favorite run-down / abandoned / unused place in Rochester :

You have until Monday, September 12th to sketch, draw, paint, sculpt, build, etc. a rendition of any actual location in the city reborn as a skate park…or duck pond…or skyscraper…or corner store…limited only by your imagination. Contact me to arrange a pickup (or send it digitally, if applicable), and your work will be proudly displayed at the 3rd annual Rochester Park(ing) Day!

Remember, you’re not constrained by reality here. It can be a hover-board park or a permanent bounce house or the world’s largest garbage plate next to a pond filled with cream ale (let me dream). Get creative! That Charmander’s not going to draw itself…

Some guidelines:

Art submissions can be in any medium and must be reasonably sized, such that a 5’7’’ 20-something could conceivably transport them. Art will be on display in a very DIY, low-budget setting (think clotheslines and a couple of shelves). This isn’t the MAG… it’s a parking lot. If you want your name and contact info on your piece, awesome. If not, also awesome. If you want your piece available for sale, put a price tag on it and we’ll direct the interested party to you. Artists WILL NOT be compensated for submissions. This is a voluntary, donation-type basis. We are expecting significant foot traffic and news coverage though, so it’s a great opportunity to get noticed. We’re not necessarily looking for professional quality here, though it is certainly welcome. In our eyes, it’s content over form. We want your IDEAS. Keep it on theme. If you send me a sketch of an ice cream cone, it’s not getting displayed; if you send me a sketch of Rochester’s newest ice cream parlor, the Inner Scoop©, we’ll talk. Any submissions regarding a casino in downtown Rochester will be heartily laughed at and promptly dismissed.

All questions and submissions to [email protected].

• • •

About Daniel Speciale:

Daniel Speciale is a volunteer with Reconnect Rochester

Tags: Daniel Speciale, Park(ing) Day, parking, parking lots, public art, Rochester, Rochester NY



This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2016 at 10:23 am and is filed under Art + Culture, Reader Submitted Stories, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.