- — December 18, 2009
On Losing the Luzon
Selected by Claudia Ridener, organizer of Make no Little Plans
Lynn Di Nino, Burnham and Root Uprooted, 2009, mixed media, 34 x 10 x 14 inches, photo by Tom Holt Photography
"Make no little plans,” advised Daniel Burnham. “They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.” Fitting words from the Chicago architect who showed the world how to build the skyscraper.
One early Saturday morning in September 2009, the city of Tacoma destroyed the beloved 1891 Luzon building, built by Burnham and his partner John Root. Ten years before, the Luzon had been part of an art installation to celebrate the new millennium. Iole Alessadrini created a light and water display as a memorial for historic buildings Tacoma had lost in the terrible ’80s and as a symbol of hope for the future. That Saturday in September, as Tacomans stood watching brick after brick being torn from the Luzon, hope evaporated in a cloud of dust.
Lynn Di Nino’s Burnham and Root Uprooted sculpture translates her mourning for a lost sense of place into a model of the Luzon rising. It is uprooted, along with history. A likeness of preservationist Michael Sullivan balances the building with his legs, which struggle to keep it from the final fall. In the footprint of the Luzon, she creates a symbol of contemporary construction: a simple plywood sculpture lacking character, lacking artisan elements, lacking any sense of the history of the people and the community it is built for. The plywood building is surrounded by pieces from Monopoly, the game that chooses short-term monetary gain over communal value.
Across the street from the fallen Luzon now stands Pacific Plaza: a parking garage renovated by the city of Tacoma for millions
of dollars.
Make No Little Plans: Luzon Memorial Show
Logical Diagram Gallery, December 17 and 20;
proceeds go to Historic Tacoma
For more information, call 253.274.0655
