Projects on Chris Beckman

Theta range

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Somewhere out there, some intelligent being is clearly trying to communicate with us using various painted lines, ridges, cones, and signs. I’m still pretty uncertain about what it is it all means, though. While traversing the city, I find they are as likely to put me in a trance as to let me know the right way to go. The average urban street marking goes in circles, stops abruptly, or fades into nothing. In Theta Range, I decided to document these structures found during my daily errands and commutes.

Wise bodies

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Every year, my spouse goes to a craft fair in Seattle’s Magnuson Park. Every year, I go, wander around the area, and take photos. Over time, this has become something of a tradition. The park is the former Naval Station Puget Sound, condemned by the federal government in 1926, and its former buildings are now inhabited by artist studios, tennis nets, and burger joints. What is it these wise bodies have to say?

A blaze in the beginning

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A Blaze in the Beginning is a series about urban wayfinding. Have you ever visited a new city, and found yourself struggling for landmarks? Perhaps what you thought was a path home is really a common motif, repeating block after block. This is how I feel about Spokane, WA, a strange but wonderful city on the other side of Washington State.

Iowa courtrooms

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

So much happens in a courtroom. People’s lives change. Power structures alter. And we know it too; we dress them up to make clear their power. Each room performs a version of seriousness: domes, polished wood, brass fixtures, chairs arranged for an audience the room expects. In Iowa Courtrooms, I resist the performance long enough to look at the staging of these public places that in theory we all own, but in reality most people rarely enter.