Intersection of Asylum and Trumbull Streets, Hartford
Date1977
MediumPhotography; color slide on plastic in cardboard mount
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineGift of Robert Gregson
CopyrightCopyright held by the Connecticut Historical Society. See object file for copyright transfer forms.
Object number2015.99.6.5
DescriptionSlide depicting an intersection in downtown Hartford with traffic lights, looking west up Asylum Street from Trumbull Street, with the Hartford Civic Center to the right. The Isle of Safety sits in front of the building on the left, which also contains a McDonald's. There is a large mural painted by Michael G. Borden on the side of the building. A sign on the front of the building facing Asylum Street reads, "FRANKS / Steaks / Sea Food / CHOPS." In the distance the Goodwin Hotel is visible at the left, and the Bond Hotel at the right. Presumably taken during a Thursday is a Work of Art event.
Collections
Label TextThursday is a Work of Art was a public art program in downtown Hartford that took place for eight weeks in the summer of 1977 and 13 weeks in the summer of 1978. Every Thursday, people who lived, worked, shopped, and socialized in the city were confronted with public performance art that changed each week. The art was sometimes political, often controversial and confrontational, and was meant to inject some life into the city center. It was created by Sidewalk, Inc., an offshoot of the Knox Foundation (a Hartford-based non-profit), and was funded by Knox, the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), and local corporations, including United Technologies.
CETA was a federal law that provided money to train unemployed people for public service jobs, and in 1977 and 1978, the state of Connecticut received $3 million from CETA to employ people in the arts.
For two summers, Sidewalk, Inc. relied on CETA funding to bring its irreverent “art attacks” to people in Hartford, challenging them to interact with the city in unusual ways. The program was both loved and hated – the Hartford Courant covered it extensively, seemingly delighted by how silly and interactive it was, and simultaneously published letters to the editor in which people decried it for being trivial and making a mockery of one of its sponsors, United Technologies. In 1979, the CETA money had all but dried up, and United Technologies declined to renew its support of Thursday is a Work of Art.
NotesRelated Note: The Isle of Safety, a covered bus and trolley stop, was at the intersection of State and Main Streets next to the Old State House until 1976, when that section of State Street was paved over. It was saved by the Knox Foundation and moved to Asylum and Trumbull streets, and later donated to the Trolley Museum in East Windsor, Connecticut.CETA was a federal law that provided money to train unemployed people for public service jobs, and in 1977 and 1978, the state of Connecticut received $3 million from CETA to employ people in the arts.
For two summers, Sidewalk, Inc. relied on CETA funding to bring its irreverent “art attacks” to people in Hartford, challenging them to interact with the city in unusual ways. The program was both loved and hated – the Hartford Courant covered it extensively, seemingly delighted by how silly and interactive it was, and simultaneously published letters to the editor in which people decried it for being trivial and making a mockery of one of its sponsors, United Technologies. In 1979, the CETA money had all but dried up, and United Technologies declined to renew its support of Thursday is a Work of Art.
Status
Not on view
Meyers Studios, Inc.
1955
