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Battlefield Bushwick
Slowly an unsuspected offensive is penetrating the interior
of Brooklyn, strategic pawns are placed in battle formation, driving the
natives from the current frontier of Bushwick. Here the signs of battle mark
the façades of old warehouses that have fallen into disuse. Now, they are
scarred by brush strokes like blood streaks of large murals announcing the
arrival of the gentrifying army: the artists. The first stage of the battle is
written in paint and graffiti. The infiltrators slowly appropriate the expressive
building-high typical murals of the local Spanish-speaking inhabitants,
claiming their part of the underused territory. And, like every battle, also
this one has its war reporters, observing the movements of
the next battalion dispatched to the battlefield. The main carrier for the
movement was tracked down to be the L-train when the pioneering artists had to
leave their strongholds of SoHo and the East Village – that they had
established in the 1960’s until the 1980’s – and crossed the East River to
Williamsburg in the 1990’s. These hip and creative pioneers were closely
followed by a migration of young settlers attracted by the wealth of the large
open loft spaces the artists had uncovered in the old industries of Bushwick. The
ever more affluent settlers took over the abundant vacant industrial remnants
until it now clashes hard with the homogeneous residential core of Bushwick,
just beyond the Morgan and Jefferson stops of the L-train.
But, unknowingly, the creative vanguard is in fact a kamikaze
force, now rebelling against and deserting their initial offensive. By
revealing the dormant wealth of space of the area, they opened it up to
speculation and immediately lost it to the rearguard of opportunistic
developers. However, they are not alone in their rebellion. Like in every great
battle, an active resistance has openly taken on the fight:
community organizations reclaim their rights and take a stand for the local
residents. Perhaps now, in the tumult of battle, an image emerges of what Bushwick
could be, a vital and mixed community rather than a container for a succession
of homogenous Dutch, German, Italian, Puerto-Rican, hipster communities. It is
in the skirmishes of battle, in the blur of clashing troops, that the community
regained its strength and vitality.
Thomas Willemse
April 2013
maandag 15 april 2013
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