The Nature of a Door

The Nature of a Door

2011 – 2013

The Nature of a Door (TND) is a social artwork with a resulting interactive, multimedia installation that uses the favorite memories of small children to thread the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego together with, teens, families, local artists, nonprofits, and educational and governmental institutions. The resulting interactive installation consists of forty-eight cabinets housing audio recordings of children’s memories and complementary artworks made by middle and high school students through the process of uniting the details of the memories they selected with their own similar memories. The collection of sculptures and their corresponding audio recordings are then housed within custom-built cabinets, consolidated into the installation, and sited within their neighborhood.  The entire process of creating the installation forms an interlacing of its participants and presents the resulting installation for the participating audience members to explore this dynamic and inspirational cross-section of City Heights. This project was created in partnership with Young Audiences of San Diego and made possible by the Creative Catalyst Fund Fellowship, a program of The San Diego Foundation.

TND came to life through the participation of the administration, staff, and students of Central Elementary School, Crawford High School, Urban Discovery Academy, JCS San Diego Academies and Learning Center, City Heights Parks and Recreation Center, City Heights Neighborhood of San Diego, CA.  Paul Williamson designed, built, and installed all of the audio and lighting component for the installation, following each of the students’ vision for their sculptures’ lighting, Interns, Olivia Cyr, Aren Skalman, and Shane Deunue from San Diego State University’s MFA Sculpture Program shared their woodworking expertise and invaluable sweat equity in the woodshop for the cabinets to be realized. The surfacing, hardware, assembly, and installation was made possible by an outstanding art collective, Sol Diego. The installation has been sited in City Heights Center, San Diego and AjA Project, San Diego both in the City Heights neighborhood to be accessible to participating students’ families for whom transportation may be an issue.