During an ongoing gentrification process, developers of Long Island City are whitewashing its image — literally.
As a large and dynamic artistic area, Long Island City was home to 5Pointz, a graffiti Mecca. Artists were drawn from all over the world to add to the blanket of decades-old graffiti on the outdoor walls of a large building complex. On Tuesday morning, artists and aficionados woke up to find the pride and joy of their city had been swathed with white paint overnight.
This insolence is a glaring example of how culture will never win in the fight against commercialization.
Lately, Long Island City has become something like the new Brooklyn. CEOs and business professionals are flocking the area and slowly changing its demographic. Generally speaking, the rebellion and vandalism associated with graffiti has always been a sort of statement against class development. Developers argue such a provocative form of artistic expression no longer has a place in a newly antiseptic city.
And unfortunately, they are right. High-rise condos will always take precedence over giddy expressions of art.
This 200,000-square foot factory building is scheduled for demolition by the end of the year, according to TIME Tuesday. The work of 1,500 artists from the last 12 years will be torn to the ground and replaced with a $400 million development project. This new complex will include 1,000 new luxury apartments and two glass towers, neither of which will bear indication of its artistic past.
In today’s society, it is almost inevitable that things will be commercialized and privatized. Cultural icons bear no credible weight against development companies who claim they are acting in the best interest for the community.
It is undeniable that this new complex will benefit the area in an economic sense. As everyone knows, the best option is not always the preferred option.
But, when it comes to preserving traditions or pursuing modernization, why are traditions always the ones people sacrifice?
Jerry Wolkoff, the owner of the building, said he did this in response to the currently booming real-estate market, according to a Tuesday article by The New York Times. He said he has the utmost respect for the artists and their work, and he is just as devastated to see the destruction as anyone else.
Wolkoff has received a great amount of backlash on Twitter since Tuesday morning. The official 5Pointz Twitter called this “the biggest art crime” and a “genocide” committed by Wolkoff. Other tweeters are calling him a “murderer” and “worthless soul.”
If Wolkoff’s sentiments are true, he should have found a way to be more sensitive to the authenticity of the landmark rather than just relentlessly destroying it. He could have built around the graffiti, integrated it into the new complex, or even better, not touched it at all.
Though the graffiti Mecca wasn’t exactly profitable, it was aesthetically and culturally pleasing to the residents and tourists in the area. People held the painted complex on a high regard not only in Long Island City, but around the world as well. It was a staple to the society, and having it stripped away is an inconceivable shame.
Developers and urban planners need to remember the heart and blood of many cities lies in its customs, culture and history. Imagine what would happen if Bourbon Street was sanitized or if the lights in Times Square were turned off.
When these attributes are stripped away, a city’s personality runs dry — and there is no fun in that.
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