Public Spirit
A Video Work by Terence Gower

Public Spirit is an animated tour of a utopian town which was planned but never built. Joseph Hirshhorn is best known as the man whose collection fills the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. But few people know about Hirshhorn's ambitious 1955 plan to build a Hirshhorn Museum in the wilderness of Canada as the centerpiece of a utopian "town of culture". The town of Hirshhorn, Ontario was designed by Philip Johnson according to a progressive modernist program. Special attention was paid to aesthetics; Hirshhorn requested "the most beautiful small town in the world." Unfortunately, due to local opposition, Hirshhorn, Ontario was never built.

Public Spirit communicates the excitement and optimism of the town project with an emotionally uplifting mix of animation and music. The piece will start with an establishing shot of the town surrounded by forest (see image of Johnson's original model, below), then take the viewer on a tour of its streets, stopping in at the museum, concert hall, and library. A fly-over will show the viewer the surrounding countryside and Lake Huron shore, then will finish with a tour of the modern housing complex planned for nearby.

This work will debut as a very prestigious "Directions" exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum in November, 2008.

The work of Terence Gower has been shown in museums around the world, including The New Museum, UCLA Hammer Museum, PS1 New York, ICA Boston, ICA Philadelphia, The Aldrich Museum, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Museo Reina Sofia Madrid, Museo Tamayo Mexico City, and Centro Recoleta Buenos Aires. His videos have been screened at festivals and museums in Barcelona, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Florence, Mexico City, Puerto Rico and New York. He is represented by Galerie M+R Fricke, Berlin.

This project was a collaboration between Terence Gower and Sticky Pictures.  

Contact Info:

Terence Gower
tg@terencegower.com

Michael Darmanin
Creative Director // Compositing // Design
michael@stickypictures.com
347 410 2528
718 963 0147

Danielle Amaral
E.P.
917-573-2497
danielleamaral@mac.com

Gabriel Riley
Producer
gabriel@stickypictures.com
718 963 0147