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April 19, 2006
Frieze Frame
Frieze Frame took place last night.
After it got dark there were a bunch of projectors showing pictures of the Frieze Building, plans and other stuff on the walls in the courtyard/parking lot.
There were also recordings of people who offered their memories of the Frieze Building. The most interesting one for me was a woman who had gone to high school there in the early fifties and then returned later as a student at the University of Michigan. She said she was surprised to find that the interior had been gutted and drastically altered. For her the demolition of the Frieze Building is not upsetting, she said, because since it was gutted it hasn't been the same.
Below is the article from the Ann Arbor News.
A farewell to Frieze Nostalgic tribute paid to historic U-M building
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
BY DAVE GERSHMAN
News Staff ReporterEven in a city that loves celebrating its history, few remembrances of Ann Arbor may come close to the tribute on Tuesday evening to the Frieze Building.
In the courtyard of the University of Michigan-owned building, dozens of people stood by and took in a multimedia show. An array of slide and video projectors, aimed at all four sides of the courtyard, cast images of the Frieze Building throughout its history, along with some of the people who went to school and taught inside of it.
A soundtrack played of people talking about their memories of the building - some funny, some earnest - and sharing their likes and dislikes.
"It's pretty nostalgic,'' said Alan Young, a U-M staff member who has worked in the building since 1972, during the two-hour show. "It's sort of been a second home for a long, long time.''
The Frieze Building won't be around much longer. This summer, U-M plans to demolish the building, clearing the site for a new, $137 million academic and residential complex that's now projected to open in fall 2010.
The decision has provoked outrage from historic preservationists and community members, some of whom fondly recall their days as high school students in the building.
The city finished the Beaux Arts portion in 1907 as Ann Arbor High School. U-M bought it in 1956 and expanded the building, using it for classroom and theater space.
The event on Tuesday was created by C. Jacqueline Wood, a U-M student. Called "Frieze Frame,'' it was part of her senior thesis project. Wood is interested in expanded cinema, and the documentation of the art form. So friends and her thesis advisor also took photos and filmed the event and the crowd. She plans on exhibiting the documentation at a gallery show in May.
But apart from her thesis, Wood also appreciates the building and wanted the event to be a way for the community to say "goodbye.'' Looking over the crowd, which grew to 50 as people came and went, Wood said, "I'm so happy'' with the support she received.
Wood's digital projectors played a series of films that students had created in the building. One showed a student in a gorilla outfit prowling the halls.
Slide projectors showed photos of the Frieze Building's architectural plans and details, from its Beaux Arts styling to its less heralded amenities, such as the antiquated bathrooms.
Other photos gave a look at the people who taught or went to school in the building, such as the black-and-white photo of a city basketball team from long ago.
Some of those photos came from Ann Arbor High School yearbooks belonging to sisters Susan Campbell and Mary Grace Gordon, both of Ypsilanti, who watched the event together. Their grandparents were high school sweethearts and graduated from Ann Arbor high school in 1916. The sisters ended up with yearbooks from several years. They had not looked at the yearbooks in a decade before hearing of Wood's event.
"I'm just glad I was able to contribute,'' said Campbell. "It's a shame this has to be torn down.''
The sound recordings were made with the help of Wood's friend, Heather Radke, who also attends U-M. A hotline was set up for people to call and record their memories of the building. Most callers were anonymous.
One recording mentioned a favorite professor. Another man recalled all of the "joints'' smoked in the building's bathrooms.
A teacher talked about falling down the front stairway in the middle of the night when nobody was looking. And a woman told a story of drinking too much as a freshman with her friends and spending a night in the building after discovering the doors were unlocked.
"It just seems like a good sendoff,'' said Mitch Sickon of Ann Arbor, who graduated from U-M in 2004 and took classes in the building. He said he wished the building would be kept in use. "I feel like it's got a bit more character than some of the other buildings'' on campus, he said.
Posted by dfulmer at April 19, 2006 02:11 PM