An Artwork for St. Louis

My name is Geoffrey Krawczyk. I'm creating a new sculptural installation at Laumeier Sculpture Park as part of the exhibition Mound City. It is a monument to a particular moment in the city's life. The striking ruins and rebirth of St. Louis' urban core provide a visual epilogue to mysterious decline of the Mississippian culture that occupied the region centuries ago. The structures they left behind are the only clues we have to understanding their culture. I'm interested in what our own contemporary structures say about us.

Click the arrow on the right to read more about the idea or scroll down to learn about the exhibition.

The Ruins of Cahokia

The story begins with the Mississippian civilization and the city at Cahokia. Boasting agricultural riches, widespread commerce, and a complex social hierarchy, Cahokia supported a population of ~20,000 people at its zenith. Its extraordinary success continued for five centuries until, for reasons still unknown, the sun set on the teeming settlement.

Our research of the Mississippians has come long way since 1920 when the first studies of the site were made. However, though archaeological excavations have shed light on the organization of the city and daily life, a lack of written language means that its downfall is still a mystery. Visiting the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park just outside St. Louis, one can see remains of the once great city. The museum offers their best guesses about Cahokia's decline: an overgrown and out-of-touch bureaucracy of elites, rampant exploitation of natural resources, changing climate. These ideas sound all too familiar to a modern audience and echo some of the difficulties that beset St. Louis in the 20th century.

The City Today

Five hundred years later, St. Louis stands as one of the oldest modern cities in the Midwest and is a complex urban environment in its own right. The city's history is also written in its architecture and it is a conversation that is ongoing. Its place as an international trading hub and gateway to westward expansion rest side by side with its troubled race relations, deteriorated downtown communities, and quixotic attempts at urban renewal. Nowhere is this juxtaposition more evident than in the Old North neighborhood with its distinctive red brick façades and striking dilapidation.

But a recent influx of homesteaders and advocates to the area has begun to change the history. The gentrification of Old North offers a new complexity to the narrative, one that is being replicated in other cities across the country. How these changes will ultimately affect the future is still an open question. At this moment, the nature of the city is one of economic and cultural flux and it is this dynamic character I want to preserve in Recess.

Scroll down to find out about the exhibition

An Artwork for St. Louis

My name is Geoffrey Krawczyk. I'm creating a new sculptural installation at Laumeier Sculpture Park as part of the exhibition Mound City. It is a monument to a particular moment in the city's life. The striking ruins and rebirth of St. Louis' urban core provide a visual epilogue to mysterious decline of the Mississippian culture that occupied the region centuries ago. The structures they left behind are the only clues we have to understanding their culture. I'm interested in what our own contemporary structures say about us.

The Ruins of Cahokia

The story begins with the Mississippian civilization and the city at Cahokia. Boasting agricultural riches, widespread commerce, and a complex social hierarchy, Cahokia supported a population of ~20,000 people at its zenith. Its extraordinary success continued for five centuries until, for reasons still unknown, the sun set on the teeming settlement.

Our research of the Mississippians has come long way since 1920 when the first studies of the site were made. However, though archaeological excavations have shed light on the organization of the city and daily life, a lack of written language means that its downfall is still a mystery. Visiting the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park just outside St. Louis, one can see remains of the once great city. The museum offers their best guesses about Cahokia's decline: an overgrown and out-of-touch bureaucracy of elites, rampant exploitation of natural resources, changing climate. These ideas sound all too familiar to a modern audience and echo some of the difficulties that beset St. Louis in the 20th century.

The City Today

Five hundred years later, St. Louis stands as one of the oldest modern cities in the Midwest and is a complex urban environment in its own right. The city's history is also written in its architecture and it is a conversation that is ongoing. Its place as an international trading hub and gateway to westward expansion rest side by side with its troubled race relations, deteriorated downtown communities, and quixotic attempts at urban renewal. Nowhere is this juxtaposition more evident than in the Old North neighborhood with its distinctive red brick façades and striking dilapidation.

But a recent influx of homesteaders and advocates to the area has begun to change the history. The gentrification of Old North offers a new complexity to the narrative, one that is being replicated in other cities across the country. How these changes will ultimately affect the future is still an open question. At this moment, the nature of the city is one of economic and cultural flux and it is this dynamic character I want to preserve in Recess.

Sculpture as Social Record

Recess takes its inspiration from the visual extremes of St. Louis, where DIY rehabs sit opposite crumbling ruins. Laumeier's peaceful environs provide a place for visitors to reflect on the tension between economics and aesthetics removed from a familiar context. Bricks spiral up from the dust, stabilized and preserved in time. It faces the suburban homes that figure heavily in its circumstances, hidden in the trees below a small mound in the shadow of nearby Cahokia.

The walls themselves are comprised of brick salvaged from Old North and laid in traditional style. They will be engraved with thoughts, critiques, and comments from the citizens of St. Louis and the surrounding areas. The structure is constructed solely with local union labour as a commitment to their role in the building of the region. Visitors can read the fragmented story of the city in its own words as they explore the monument. It provides a lasting testament for future generations, documenting the present day in a way the Mississippians failed to achieve.

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