Part of the Ribbon of Light installations (Image: AIDS Memorial Pathway)
Rasmussen
One of the driving forces behind the creation of the AIDS Memorial Pathway will help lead a tour of the art, history, and activism highlighted along the route connecting Cal Anderson Park to Capitol Hill Station.
Former Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen will join the Capitol Hill Historical Society for a May 7th walk along the pathway:
We will meet at the Station House Cathy Hillenbrand Community Room, which does not have an official address, but is at 10th Ave E and John Street. Once gathered, we will hear from Tom Rasmussen and then walk the pathway to learn about the stops along the way. The tour will run rain or shine, so come prepared for both scenarios. The walk will be slow and fairly flat, with some slight inclines, but attendees should be prepared to be on their feet for roughly an hour and a half.
“The project has three goals: to use public art to create a physical place for reflection and remembrance, to share stories of the epidemic and the diverse community responses to the AIDS crisis, and to provide a call to action to end HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination,” the group writes about the tour. “Today, this beautiful series of art works weaves its way through our every day neighborhood spots, from the farmer’s market to Cal Anderson Park. Here is a chance to explore the people and history behind the art and learn how it all fits together.”
Tickets for the tour are $20 a person.
(Image: AIDS Memorial Pathway)
The retired Rasmussen’s most impactful work on Capitol Hill was his leadership on the creation of the Pike/Pine historical preservation incentives that reshaped the neighborhood in the 2010s.
But his work on the pathway could eventually eclipse those seven and eight-story buildings.
In 2015, Rasmussen, the first openly gay man on Seattle’s City Council, joined Leonard Garfield, executive director of the Museum of History & Industry, and community volunteer Michele Hasson in convening a group of stakeholders to assess interest in a memorial to recognize those lost during the AIDS crisis.
The $2.9 million public-private pathway project was powered by developer Gerding Edlen, Sound Transit, SDOT, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and Seattle Parks and Recreation along with major support from community fundraising.
Dedicated in the summer of 2021, the pathway’s centerpiece rises in the plaza above Capitol Hill Station and elegantly incorporates a large block full of transit system utilities. Artist Christopher Paul Jordan’s andimgonnamisseverybody is a giant X made from speakers, a 20 foot by 20 foot structure, designed by the artist to represent X as a positive symbol turned on its axis to erode the perceived binary between HIV positive and HIV negative people and symbolizing a solidarity between the two. Jordan told CHS after his selection that “the general attitude that a lot of folks have is, ‘Well it doesn’t really affect me, I’m negative.’ There’s a respectability culture around HIV negative status that sees itself as separate from the crisis, as some people have access to healthcare and support they need.”
The We’re Already Here installation from design firm Civilization has added colorful, provocative signs to the area around the station development with messages based on research of messages from “collective action” — protests, demonstrations, rallies, and campaigns — from activism around the HIV/AIDS crisis.
The AMP photography project In This Way We Loved One Another by artist and poet Storme Webber hangs at the Cathy Hillenbrand Community Room inside the affordable Station House Building that is part of the station’s mixed-use housing development.
And in Cal Anderson, the Ribbon of Light works were created as a “quiet space for communal mourning and personal contemplation” along the pathway.
The pathway is now part of the City of Seattle’s art collection.
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I must say the poorly-executed lighted sculptures in the park provide excellent, backlit, and quite visible to the public venues for graffiti.
Bravo to the city for approving these poorly-executed sculptures.
If one squints one can see that they were meant to look like ribbons threading in and out of the ground — a really interesting idea — but executed in such a way that it appears a middle schooler was responsible for the engineering aspects of the project.
And, again, we should all thank the city for the excellent graffiti space this very-much-needed piece of public art provides.
Just because you personally don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s bad. I personally am not a fan of Monet or Rothko, but some people think they were geniuses. Art is a very personal thing for people – please remember that. And also please remember that anything put in a public space is likely to attract graffiti, whether you like the piece or not.
I have to admit I didn’t realize why there were pieces of glass in Cal Anderson park until reading your post — I just thought it was some kind of modern art exhibit.
I love the new sculptures and am so very happy that the spirit of Cal Anderson lives on through these artworks. Looking forward to hearing the talk, meeting some of my neighbors, and getting a tour!