Effort under way to photographically preserve Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center
It's called "Project Kirkbride" -- an effort to photographically preserve America's oldest asylums, including the one in Fergus Falls.
It's called "Project Kirkbride" -- an effort to photographically preserve America's oldest asylums, including the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center.
The project creator and director Christian VanAntwerpen provided some Q and A about the effort:
What is the Kirkbride Project?
The Kirkbride Project is an interactive Photographic experience . It is the first coordinated and organized effort to photograph every square inch of a Kirkbride asylum in both an accurate and artistic way.
Who is involved in the Kirkbride Project?
The Kirkbride Project is founded by photographer/musician/explorer Christian VanAntwerpen of CVK Multimedia and co-led by cinematographer/explorer Robert Duffy. The project involves 40 to 50 world class photographers, cinematographer, urban explorers, artists, and preservationists. The project also involves dozens of volunteers for security, web building, coordinating, fund raising, and project preparations
Where is the Kirkbride Project?
The Kirkbride Project is tentatively expected to begin in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and branch out to other abandoned Kirkbride Asylums at risk of demolition or reuse.
When will the Kirkbride Project begin?
The Kirkbride Project is underway in the planning phase. Organizers hope to execute the photographic aspect of the project this spring. The finished Fergus Falls Project page is hopefully going to be publicly viewable on the Internet by late 2013 early 2014.
How is the Kirkbride Project going to look upon completion?
The Kirkbride Project will begin with a dedicated web domain. The domain will have a floor plan or blueprint of the hospital with the ability to click on individual floors and ward segments. Once the viewer has chosen a specific section to view, the viewer will be taken to an artist's page. One artist shall be assigned one ward each. The artist's page will have a description of the artist, a personal experience blog pertaining to photographing the hospital, and an interactive enlarged plan of that section of the building. Each room in the ward and the ward hallway will be linkable to an online dedicated photo album. This is where the viewer will see a uniquely artistic, as well as an accurate photograph of that room or hall. The project will also have a series of exterior photos by renown architectural photographers and the interior project participants as well. Organizers also anticipate multiple HD videos to be incorporated into the project.
How does the Kirkbride Project keep the building secure and provide safety for the participants?
The Kirkbride Project incorporates roughly a 1 to 4 ratio of security personnal to project participants. The Kirkbride Project will also be working closely with city official and local police officers to maintain security and project integrity. The project and the building is not to be an open to the public event. The event date is to not be publicized prior to the event to prevent additional security risks. As an additional measure, the Kirkbride project relies heavily on the building being presented AS-IS. Photographers have been informed that any moving of any objects found in the hospital or any staging of objects will result in that photographer being ejected from the project and the building with all photographic rights removed from the project.
What is the Kirkbride Project's mission?
1) to accurately and artistically photograph the ENTIRE Kirkbride Building
2) to allow participants of the project time to fully explore and experience the entire building
3) to provide future generations a chance to explore and experience the entire building through photography and film
4) to stop time, momentarily, and to capture the current state of the entire building as it transitions from state hospital to either new ownership or demolition
5) to preserve and immortalize the embodiment of the Kirkbride Plan carried out within the walls of the RTC
6) to document the emotion of this large structure as it sits in abandonment
Organizers are actively seeking donations to support this effort. For more information or to donate, go to the website, www.fundrazr.com and search for Kirkbride.
Tags: regional news, news, updates, kirkbride
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