Great Space, Great Lakes

I don't know many folks in Ohio, but in case you're stopping through Cleveland, I'm lucky to have a project up at SPACElab, the project space for SPACES, an artist run non-profit thats been around for thirty (!) years. They've got some great other work up as well, and they are wonderful to work with (for anyone with a rogue project they're wanting to find a home for...).

The project is called, "Great Lakes, Great Memorials, Great Fears" and it looks to a post-War of 1812 treaty, the Rush-Bagot Treaty, disallowing big guns on ships in the great lakes. Ships were disassembled in Canada and the US and monuments were built to this little known piece of legislation.

In early 2001 construction began on the land where the US monument stands, retrofitting a women's state hospital into condos. The monument (and the building) were behind construction fencing and thus, noone could access the monument. Later that year, following the September 11th attacks, the US started rearming ships without addressing the treaty or notifying the Canadian armed forces.