{"id":8699,"date":"2018-09-30T19:40:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-30T23:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=8699"},"modified":"2018-12-24T09:18:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T14:18:55","slug":"gentrification-gjertsen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/09\/30\/gentrification-gjertsen\/","title":{"rendered":"Gentrification Is A Big Threat To Somerville In Dina Gjertsen\u2019s Tiny Dioramas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cKatie Gradowski called them \u2018displacement dollhouses,\u2019 which I thought was kind of cute,\u201d Somerville artist Dina Gjertsen tells me about the dioramas she\u2019s been making lately.<\/p>\n

At Martha Friend\u2019s Friend-Smithsonian Tiny Museum\u2014a display case situated on the lawn out front of 135 Highland Ave. in Somerville\u2014Gjertsen recently installed her diorama “Conversion.\u201d Models of P.A.\u2019s Lounge, Reliable Market, J.J. Sullivan Plumbing & Heating Contractors and other buildings in Somerville\u2019s Union Square are scattered in a jumble, crushed under a pristine row of bland condos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just about gentrifying Union Square into condos,\u201d Gjertsen says, \u201cwhich I really hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dina<\/a>
Dina Gjertsen “Conversion.\u201d (Kelly Taylor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAlmost everyone I know struggles with low level anxiety with their ability to live\u2014not just in Somerville, but anywhere\u2014and what they\u2019re going to do,\u201d Gjertsen says. \u201cEverything is changing. Who is it for? It\u2019s not for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first one I did was the condo across the street from where I live. A cherry tree is growing through it and it\u2019s broken all the windows,\u201d Gjertsen says. She was thinking of how abandoned buildings in Detroit have been taken over by trees. \u201cI was thinking about ways of destroying these buildings without being excessively violent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dina<\/a>
Dina Gjertsen’s model of a condo overwhelmed by a cherry tree.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the weekend, she installed a diorama in an old phone box in front of Union Square Beer and Wine. It\u2019s a model of the buildings you\u2019re standing in front of\u2014Brass Union, the liquor store, and three-quarters of the Independent. \u201cThose three buildings with the phone box and a figure,\u201d Gjertsen says. \u201cIt\u2019s like a you-are-here 3D model. And it\u2019s surrounded by condos. It\u2019s called \u2018You Are Here For Now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have both an aesthetic aversion to the new construction and then also a political aversion because all the new construction is far, far too expensive,\u201d Gjertsen says. \u201cIt\u2019s just ridiculously expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Tory Bullock\u2019s \u2018Gentrification Game\u2019 Aims To \u2018Let You Feel What Gentrification Feels Like\u2019<\/a>
\n\u2022 \u2018Save EMF\u2019 Building Rally: \u2018What Mr. DiGiovanni Is Doing May Be Legal, But It\u2019s Not Right\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Dina<\/a>
Dina Gjertsen’s “You Are Here For Now” in Somerville’s Union Square.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dina<\/a>
Dina Gjertsen’s “You Are Here For Now.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dina<\/a>
Dina Gjertsen’s “You Are Here For Now.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dina<\/a>
Dina Gjertsen “Conversion” at the Friend-Smithsonian Tiny Museum, Somerville. (Kelly Taylor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cKatie Gradowski called them \u2018displacement dollhouses,\u2019 which I thought was kind of cute,\u201d Somerville artist Dina Gjertsen tells me about the dioramas she\u2019s been making lately. At Martha Friend\u2019s Friend-Smithsonian Tiny Museum\u2014a display case situated on the lawn out front of 135 Highland Ave. in Somerville\u2014Gjertsen recently installed her diorama “Conversion.\u201d Models of P.A.\u2019s Lounge, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,100,105],"tags":[399,26],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8699"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9737,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8699\/revisions\/9737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}