INDIANAPOLIS — The Friends of Garfield Park, Inc. recently announced that Indy Parks & Recreation has approved the design of the landmark vistas that were conceived and created by their partners at Big Car Collaborative.
The project will engage visitors by identifying important park features and providing information in both visual and auditory form. Visitors who encounter these vista markers, with shapes abstracted from classic RCA Victrola phonograph players, will be encouraged to dial a phone number unique to each marker that will launch an audio history of the relevant park feature. Visitors will be encouraged to place their phones inside the metal cylinders of each vista marker to take advantage of the natural amplification provided by the shape of the metal, which will allow multiple visitors to share the experience simultaneously.
Garfield Park, flanking downtown’s southern edge, is the oldest city park in Indianapolis. An essential part of noted landscape architect George Edward Kessler’s Park and Boulevard Plan for the city, it is also on the National Register of Historic Places. At 128 acres, there are fascinating and important assets in the park of which many visitors are not aware.
Big Car Collaborative is a nonprofit arts collaborative that was established 11 years ago. They will be focusing the programs this year on the Garfield Park area, including establishing a home base. They continue to do pop-up programming in Lafayette Square and the Far Eastside.
