Spikes Keep Citizens Upright
#43. Spikes Keep Citizens Upright
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© Jonathan David Marston
A catalogue of anti-sitting devices installed to keep New Yorkers on their feet and off anything they could possibly sit on. Iron-and-steel spikes and railings grow like ivy, covering banisters, windowsills, standpipes, steps, and exhaust vents. No horizontal surface is too small to defend from the threat of temporary inhabitation. Installed by property owners, the devices are the product of the defensive, inward-looking architecture that emerged in New York in the late 1960s.
J. Marston is a writer, photographer, and researcher who now lives in Hudson, New York. He has been photographing anti-sitting devices for his blog, Transfer, since 2003.
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Comments
STAND UP PHREAKS!
Brilliant! A steady eye and a humanitarian outlook can lead to civic engagement. Ever since I saw the anti-sit collection these anti-democratic eye soars have led me to speak out on this negative urban (and increasingly suburban) trend. The anti-sit captures the silent erosion of public places and the fleeting right to take a load off when desired. Kudos!
Reminds me of that old country ballad (Breaking Even on a Bed of Nails)
This kind of devices are so harsh on the urban walker, not only spiky and spooky on the material side of your bum, but also on the psychological side of things. Once a city is full of these, it becomes pretty hard to believe you're still welcome to sit around, lay back and relax and enjoy the view.
If you're looking for some exotic places where to continue this collection, in Bern there are also quite a few of these devices, namely on bank-owned buildings. Maybe the crisis will change that... who knows? At any rate, it does make some nice new pictures for your blog.
would you sit on your neighbor's window balcony just because you are tired? Maybe a lil nap?
stand up walkers!
Those spikey devices are probably a reaction to the abnormal increasing percentage of morbid obese people in America.
this is a healthy progressive proccedure for goal to ameliorate the american people fattness issue
Stay in shape America!
They got our bums!
thats terrible. If that was my space, have a seat and hey neighbor do you need a drink?
UGLY!! useless and ugly. how to break architecture
this is terrible! it is anti-homeless in the most blatant fascist way. what's wrong with sitting for a bit. in fact, S-L-O-W-I-N-G down, stopping to take a rest, and taking time to enjoy our surroundings is what we need MORE of, not less.
creating active spaces, and active citizens can be done in a much more positive and beautiful way.
in short, i think this STINKS!
I honestly thought this was a joke when I saw the picture, or an ironic installation. You mean people actually put things like this on ledges? Wow. Only pigeons get that kind of treatment in the UK.
Louise, not so. Have a closer look in the City of London, or in Westminster, you'll find there are hundreds of spiky things just like this, to stop people sitting or sleeping in the edges of building facades. Normally they try to disguise them so they are not so blatant, and so they look more 'architectural' than anti-vandal, but they're there on buildings just the same
where can we find more info about J. Marston's project?
Once a city is full of these, it becomes pretty hard to believe you're still welcome to sit around, lay back and relax and enjoy the view.
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(Speak up)