“Living Concrete/Carrot City”

Who say agriculture in the city is impossible?

“Living Concrete/Carrot City”, an exhibition at Parsons’ Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery showcased strategies and concrete possibilities of urban agriculture design. The exhibition presented many innovative projects that explored urban food production through creative approach, from simple to ambitious urban plans. The exhibition presentation is cohesive with the theme behind it. The overall impression of the exhibition is very simplistic. There is no unnecessary decoration. White walls are used as the background while unpolished wooden blocks are used as counters. Text is written in pure san serif typeface and the type font sizes are clearly organized for clear visibility.

What I find very interesting about the exhibition is that not only there were a mixture between conceptual and realized projects along with the details such as images and concrete examples. The boards labeled as building community knowledge really captures the intended purpose through their straightforward explanation and images. Another section of the exhibition, which is about product for growing, really amazed me. Products such as flexible, stack, and hanging containers are not complicated design yet they make urban agriculture much easier. Concrete products such as the flexible container and rainwater harvesting support and light up the exhibition. In addition, multimedia such as computers and videos of interviews are found in the exhibition; these devices are used to give further knowledge for those who are interested.

Although I believed that the exhibition path is not easily accessible, it represents the idea of urban agriculture. There is not a clear direction where to begin in the exhibition but it echoes the exhibition topic. Urban agriculture never has a clear path or clear explanations, all we need to do is jump in and participate; it is based on our consciousness. However, some improvement can be made. The section where all the projects are displayed seems to have limited space, which gave a sense of cramp. Some texts such as the one explaining the posters could be made bigger so they would be more visible. In my opinion, by using available spaces on the white walls could solve all of these problems.

Nevertheless, the exhibition manages to successfully deliver its intention. “Living Concrete/Carrot City” definitely brought up the potential in urban agriculture by connecting, research and design to our urban food systems.