A public art installation of 20 parking meters (altered) and wired for sound. Each meter was placed in a public context including bookstores, parks, outside galleries, city hall, malls, arts organizations, bookstores etc. When the viewer fed the meter with a quarter, they got 15 minutes of sound.
This project grew out of a proto-type that was made for the "Breaking Barriers" exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum after the LA insurrection. 20+ meters were wired for sound were placed throughout Los Angeles, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena and Orange County. Artists and writers with HIV/AIDS and their friends and family were commissioned to write texts for the tapes which are placed in the meters. When the viewer feeds the meter, a tape plays. When the time runs out, the meter is then silent. Money collected went towards a fund that supported artists with AIDS in the fabrication of their work. This project opened December 1st, 1994 and ran initially for three months. The project lasted for four years. Many meters were also included in a number of gallery and museum group shows.
All the quarters were deposited into an account that was given to artists with HIV/AIDS to finish a last body of work before they died, through Side Street Projects, a nonprofit artist run space. MORE INFO>
Invitation for the project and the initial writers and hosts.
When the meter was fed with a quarter and you turned the handle it used to say "in violation". I changed it to In Memory...
Waiting for a user.
Some texts were family friendly, others were at sites where the text was for adults.
Full meter standing. One of Twenty. Karen Atkinson.
Meter in front of LA Eyeworks, Mall in Orange County, CA.
