What Needs To Be Said?

St. Anthony Park Pop-up, vacant storefront, St. Paul, Minnesota

What Needs To Be Said? had its initial installation in an empty storefront on University Avenue in St. Paul for one week in August 2012. The project is conceived as a temporary, traveling work of public art, planned to visit other settings in 2012-13. This work provides the setting and opportunity for all to say what "needs to be said" - however one wants to define that. A room within the storefront - a semi-transparent “Writing Room” - made of mylar, paper and charred wood provides a unique environment for anyone to write what “needs to be said”. Words can be made public by pinning them to the storefront walls - or should one prefers to keep their writings private - the Room is designed such that messages can be placed out of reach and not readable, but collected. These writings were burned at the end of the project’s week in the storefront.

Asking “what needs to be said”, (even if a visitor should choose not to write) has the impact of this question resonating in one’s mind. Should something long kept to oneself be unburdened? Should a joy be celebrated out loud? Is there something you wished you had said and now that person is gone? What do we as individuals, and/or as part of larger groups feel needs to be said? Or is being said but not being heard or believed?

It can be cathartic to “speak up” and share in public, and this artwork offers a compelling physical setting for this activity. What Needs To Be Said? is deliberately differentiated from blogs and message postings that are virtual and linear. This project offers the possibility for writing and reading others’ writings in a random, physical, visceral way. What Needs To Be Said? invites all the voices from the community to speak, and to speak their truth. There is a tremendous need for new places and objects to address our emotional life.

Materials/dimensions: wood, transformed found objects (doors, table, chairs), mylar, paper, pencils, mixed media. Writing Room: 7’-10” x 6’-8” x 7’-0”; dimensions variable as installation.