Encounter the Block

In the movie "Attack the Block", the space inhabited by the teenage protagonists becomes vitally important on many levels, especially once under literal threat from outer space, their familiarity with the built environment and pride towards saving their "home" saves the day. It's all about the way they see and use their block.

It may not be a life and death scenario, such as mutant monkey creatures from another planet, but the locations that map the social and cultural context of our lives do provide an important element to our society and for our identity as well. As Massey noted, space is defined by human relations and is always in flux. Last week, I touched on how the block long Ballard Avenue is transformed for the farmer's market. This week, I'd like to delve further into how the spatial actors make the location their own -- through commentary, observation and past visual documentation of the area.

OBSERVATIONS and MY THOUGHTS...Sunday. Chilly rain mists the air separating the dedicated from the seasonal visitor. The Soundtrack: Michael and John play beautiful Americana songs on guitar. This duo ignores the raindrops and delivers soaring harmonies to the melancholy sky. They are the only musicians so far. I praise their dedication and ask them why, why do they like to come out to the Ballard farmer's market and play music? The answer, so artful in its zen simplicity: "What else are we going to do?" They continue and explain that the market strikes a nice balance between a place to rehearse and to connect with people. Being a musician myself, and someone who has busked (played on the street), I fully understand how tough and how rewarding it can be at the same time. A sidewalk is transformed into a mini-stage with an ever-roaming audience on the same spatial level. This is one way to understand the utilization of the environment and feel its atmosphere.

I observe a distinctive flow to the human current. Since the structural element of the tents are set up in an almost middle location (slightly closer to one side) there is a narrower sidewalk on one side and a wider throughway on the other. This creates a circular movement around the tents (with stops for particularly eye-catching goods of course). It is contextualized within a historic business district but the signs and the tents organize a visual cue to entice the casual passerby in for their own encounter of the block. The street layout encourages strolling and I observed many groups involved in social interaction (although whether they were neighbors, distant cousins or long lost sweethearts, my casual observation could not elucidate). In these ways the streets, signs and tents act as non-human artifacts designed to give us social clues as to how to behave, much like Bruno Latour's discussion of seat belts and doors. In this case, however, you most likely won't be labeled immoral for standing on the vendor's side of a tent but you will undoubtedly be given a choice of leaving or working. Focault's idea of self-policing, within his concept of panopticism, is at play with the underlying understanding of who should go where and do what. It doesn't seem nearly as extreme in this environment though without hidden cameras, police or even security. I'd say here it is more like an extended version of the honor system. This set up of the tents creates a dichotomy between vendor and consumer but the power dynamic is very interesting. Due to the nature of the relationship, the purchaser ultimately affects the success of the day. Therefore, the vendors create a feast for the senses akin to theater with their brightly colored goods, aromatic scents and ongoing patter offering samples. Community comes to mind, the market is a gathering place for kids (of all ages), dogs and red wagons or carts of all shapes and sizes. This moves it beyond the simple necessity of a space organized for consumption. It's as much about entertainment and interaction as it is buying commodities.

The market fulfills a myriad of functions for many different participants.

Judy, the market manager, puts it perfectly, "We take a bare street and make a community gathering spot like a magic mushroom and it all disappears at 5pm."

Devra Gartenstein from the Patty Pan Grill (www.pattypangrill.com and www.quirkygourmet.com) got in at the ground level. She has been serving prepared food there since 1997. Farmer's markets work the best for her and are her main business. (Subjectivity note: I had a delicious bean & chile tamale with grilled vegetables at her stand before we talked.)

Rita (and Chuck) (a lovely couple walking through the market who didn't run immediately upon my accosting them with my question) said the market for them was "local, organic produce you can walk to".

Now for the especially fun part, a visual menagerie of how people see and use the market through their own personal lens (literally, the pictures are courtesy of several wonderful photographers at Flickr). One person saw the elegance in crowd dynamics (Camelama - top picture on the left), another picked up on individuals with unique personas (balcony girl -- right hand side), a third created a visual feast for the eyes (Keesha Davis - www.keeshadavis.com - middle on the left) and our last one followed the syncopation on the breeze (Mary Wit - bottom left). Subjectivity Note: I know one of the musicians in Mary Wit's photo for Snake Suspenders -- Howlin' Hobbitt -- he's a ukelele player and a cool guy. Thank you all for your contribution towards the production of space at the Ballard farmer's market. Maybe I'll see you there sometime...