Pittsburgh Magazine - December 2017 - Pittsburgh, PA: Laura Zurowski gathers the supplies needed for the day’s exploration: a backpack with a copy of Bob Regan’s “Pittsburgh Steps: The Story of the City’s Public Stairways,” two journals to record information at the stairway, chalk, iPhone and Polaroid Spectra camera. She’s off to the Middle Hill to climb the 100 steps from Center Avenue to Brackenridge Street.
3 comments:
This is a really unique project that I would never really expect anyone to attempt. I have never thought of steps in this way, as something to hold stories or them being a “deliberate act of studying the surrounding area, what is above and below, why were these steps used, who walked here before,” as the article says. It must be unbelievably meticulous to attempt to find each staircase. I used to do Geocaching, where you try and find little hidden capsules, or caches, and you write your name and leave or take a little bauble from the container. I loved doing this, it felt like treasure hunting, kind of like this is. But the hardest part was always finding the cache to begin with, as I can imagine these steps will be. I am also intrigued to see what Zurowski intends to do with these photos. Will they simply be Instagram posts forever, or will she attempt to create a larger art piece with them? Pittsburgh is home to a lot of hidden treasures, and this is sure to become one of the more appreciated ones after this project is done.
Laura Zurowski’s project reminds me of urban exploring. I really like the idea of discovering old places that haven’t been used for a while and recording them. Not only does it tell the story of her experience, but also the story of the city. At my high school, there was this wide set of stairs that led up to the main doors of the school, and the stairs were so old that they had been worn away by the elements and people walking on them. In relation to laura’s project I wonder about how many people have walked down those stairs, and then applying that to a whole city is really interesting. Also I like that she documents her experience through tangible photographs and in journals. I think it really adds to her project and grounds her experience.
This article presented a really interesting perspective on a manmade, often extremely old object that has many stories to tell. The author cites stairways as being entities similar to trees-- "Climbing the steps is a deliberate act of studying the surrounding area, what is above and below, why were these steps used, who walked here before. Stairways, often taken for granted as a means to a destination, are the destination for Zurowski. Explore. Listen. They have stories to tell." While at first Laura Zurowski's project of cataloging all if Pittsburgh's 739 public staircases seemed tedious and mundane, I found this passage really beautiful. Many won't see the purpose in her project or will write it off as simple statistical research, however I never realized that something as commonplace as stairs can have such rich human history behind them. While the polaroid photos on the playing cards are merely temporary, they are a reminder of humanity's fleeting nature itself in comparison to the steps that will live long after us.
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