Tourist Productions 2007

I have been having difficulty finding a project that I feel truly invested in, but I have been having lots of tourism adventures over the past week, and hopefully I found a promising project.
Last Sunday, Rebekah and I went to the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights. First, I must say, rarely is something relatively easy to get to from my area in Brooklyn, so I was delighted when I stepped off the 3 to see the large photographic image of the front of the museum. A lot of creativity has been invested in bringing Jewish history and culture into the realm of children’s appreciation—the giant matzah balls holding computer screens that printed out selected international recipes were my favorite. Being non-Jewish, I was surprised by the number of interactive sections in which I could not participate. I had assumed with a mission statement of being “a setting for children of all faiths and backgrounds to gain a positive perspective and awareness of the Jewish heritage, fostering tolerance and understanding,” that the exhibits would help to teach visitors more than test them. A bit frustrated with my naïveté, I could picture that one kid in every class who knows EVERYTHING and likes to show it off in front of the less knowledgeable students. While there were things I learned, I was disappointed that so much in the displays remained a mystery.
Tuesday, I went on another outing with Rebekah to Harlem to meet Johnny, another PS student who lives there and wrote a walking tour about Malcom X. We walked mainly on 125th street, checking out the Apollo, Hotel Theresa, Blumstein’s and the many histories and stories behind these sites. Johnny’s personal relationships with the sites mixed with the historic descriptions, created a street that was a neighborhood rather than a simple tourist destination. Reading about Harlem, it is as if the area and it’s buildings had ceased to change and that they were only historical moments. However in speaking to people, it is impossible to think that this area is anything but very much alive and evolving.
As an alternate form of tourism, we took pictures with our backs to the typical “tourist” attractions. What interested me in doing this was how many brand names appeared in these shots—McDonald’s, Foot Locker, and other advertisements. It made me more aware of the level of commercialization on every street corner—while tourist sites have another level of commercialism, product placement in and around these buildings was really striking. Additionally, hearing Johnny speak about the attempted encroachment of Columbia and the potential of drastic change within the neighborhood, I questioned who has ownership of these communities?
An additional tourist alternative we investigated was the gastronomic tourism. I decided to try to stick with eating things that started with “H” for Harlem rather than “N” for New York. In addition to the honey roasted peanuts that were sold at the subway exit (which I thought, this and a hot dog do not really seem to add up to something unique from the area…) we went to Sylvia’s Restaurant and split Harlem style fried chicken and waffles. Unfortunately, they were out of Harlem’s own Sugar Hill beer, so we had to settle for Heineken.
Something that we missed out on seeing Tuesday, but I am going back to visit tomorrow was a bookstore that Johnny recommended where the owner loves talking about the history of the neighborhood. For my project, I want to research the oral histories that make this community so vibrant. It is always fascinating to me when I am with a friend and hearing their own accounts of a city—while history books tend to portray everything as “finished,” there is something live and continual in the stories people tell about the places they live in. Oral histories make me question how history and information are transmitted and how simple personal stories can add to the three dimensionality of space. I’m hoping my visit tomorrow will help me to solidify my project topic and I will re-post. If the bookstore doesn’t lead to good and hopeful outlets, I will be posting another project proposal tomorrow…
Additionally, I went to the Museum of Sex on Friday, which to be honest was to me, well, anti-climatic. The Kink exhibit was more what I had been expecting from the whole museum, but the main exhibit floors were dark, felt closer to a porn-shop than a museum, and were sparse as far as documenting sexuality. While the Kink display was bright, educational, and full of shock-value, the upper floors felt lacking, especially with sexuality being such a vast subject.
Tomorrow, before Harlem, I plan on finding the Surveillance Camera Players Tour that I posted about earlier—I’m really enjoying this alternative investigation of the city (the readings also reminded me of a crazy night in undergrad when we tried to get into the tunnels under the school, but couldn’t figure out how some other guys had opened up the manhole cover).