S u p e r V a l u   R e d u x

— a photographic evocation of the edifice —

June 10 - July 14, 2006
 
 

Now that SuperValu has been demolished physically, we can begin to deconstruct it aesthetically.

The SuperValu Redux exhibit comprises two parallel and complementary artistic tracks: photographic and installation. The photographic track consists of select images culled from the nearly 2000 photos taken of the SuperValu store during its demolition in March and April 2006.

It is an attempt to raise our awareness (perhaps too late) of the structural elegance that was in our midst until a few months ago. After taking it for granted as merely a place to buy groceries, we can now look back on it through photographs and appreciate what we failed to notice for the last 42 years: that it was a fine example of urban architecture married with aesthetic principles.

The installation track comprises various small pieces of hardware salvaged from the demolition site as well as four massive metal brackets with stubs of the long wooden beams that once supported the wide curving roof. We can now see and touch these chunks of metal and wood, and admire them in visual isolation as well as through their texture and heft. Then, turning back to the photographs, the objects can be seen as they once were, in situ.

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