The Wisconsin Project: Brookfield

12.1.14

Found: Brookfield Square, Brookfield, WI

Found: Brookfield Square, Brookfield, Wisconsin.
A completely weather conditioned enclosed Mall.
Specially designed and lighted fountains in tropical parklike settings.
Hi-lighted by the fascinating "Wonderfall," scuptured art and wide terrazzo walkways.
From an Ektachrome Transparency, The L.L.Cook Co., Milwaukee, Wisc., circa 1967.

Found: Written in ballpoint: "This is a new Shopping Center near where my Daughter lives in Brookfield"

A quick google search reveals no trace of the "fascinating Wonderfall" today other than the occasional abandoned mall shot. Truly a work of public art placed in the democratic space of the shopping mall nearly half century ago. These fountains apparently made of nylon strands and glycerine are described briefly on the Mall Hall of Fame blog and are notoriously difficult to maintain according to artist Brian Ulrich whose photographs and research have focused on the mall in recent years. Brookfield Square wasn't the only mall with a "Wonderfall" though, other malls had them and newspaper ads described them as "mystifying." There seems to be little trace of giant operating Wonderfall in malls these days. Everyone can remember small scale versions in nursing home and supper club lobbies and home versions turn up frequently on eBay and the occasional nostalgic video.

5.1.14

Found: Woolworth, Brookfield, WI

Found: Woolworth, at Brookfield Square, Brookfield, Wisconsin. Copyright The L.L. Cook Co.
from an Ektachrome Transparency. Postmarked December 22, 1969.
Written on verso in ballpoint pen and addressed to Tampa, Florida:
"Hello Marie. This is from the Brookfield Square.
This is some shopping center.
One of the largest and finest. Parking space for 10,000 cars.
The weather here was at 8 above this morning.
Now it is 24 above. Best regards and have fun."

Oblivious to the forces of nature, the suburban shopper of the late 1960s could browse the mall in climate-controlled comfort once the car was parked outside in the lot. Fully enclosed expansive shopping malls seem quaintly historic in the age of Target and Amazon. But you wouldn't think so by looking at survivor mall websites like the one for Brookfield Square, which first opened in 1967. Avoiding the topic of "history", Brookfield Square has been re-envisioned for the 21st century as a bright and airy social spot with world food and trendy clothes. Still, traditional Sears and JC Penney serve as anchor stores rather than the defunct Woolworth's with its abundant ficus plants as shown on this postcard. The Woolworth's store at the Mid-Cities Mall (opened in 1968) in our home town of Manitowoc, WI was a hot spot and frequent destination when we were teenagers. Woolworth's sold records, magazines, parakeets, house plants, lip gloss, colorful tights, and had a restaurant that served grilled hot dogs and a particularly fluffy lemony cheese cake within its walnut Formica paneled interior.

THE WISCONSIN PROJECT

Our research-driven Wisconsin Project contemplates the rooted-ness and state-of-mind resulting from inhabiting a single place, our native Wisconsin, for a long time. Through critiquing postcard views both made and found, we learn a great deal about past and present Wisconsin. We began making postcard views of the places immediately around our studio and on our drives around Wisconsin in about 2008. We use the vintage postcard film format and print the cards in palladium and cyanotype. By communicating details of a specific place, seeming to register only marginally on the national radar, the project seeks to bring audiences into a Wisconsin mental space. Some in the art world would argue that the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin, makes for banal “fly over” subject matter. Our project challenges that by finding meaning in the ordinary and inviting audiences to examine, dialog, and reflect on the particular emotional quality of the idiosyncrasies of place and the perceptions of those both inside and outside of it. Sometimes distant memories are involved and a longing for a time now gone. Wisconsin’s glacier inflected landscape and proximity to the Great Lakes creates an exotic arena for living that informs our project. The life cycle plays out and rural and urban ruins serve as monuments to existences as people, places, and ideas surface then vanish. Ultimately, we aim to grapple with complex perceptions of Wisconsin ranging from nostalgic, romantic, and idealized--as depicted on myriad real photo postcard and standard tourist postcards--to mysterious, dark, and Gothic as conveyed in works of art and literature such as Michael Lesy's "Wisconsin Death Trip" book and Werner Herzog's "Stroszek" film. The project culminated in a residency with workshops and community collaborations and the installation "We Go From Where We Know" at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center 10.13.2013-3.7.2014 and later the Harvestore Bandshell for Fermentation Fest in 10.2014. The blog continues the exploration of postcards.