Performance in Black and White: Toshihiro Katayama

Toshihiro Katayama’s bold design for the Shapiro Family Plaza at Porter Square includes a steel wall and two small steel panels painted with a black and white graphic motif.

The artist’s concept presented some material choice challenges. The black and white steel walls were situated amidst a steady stream of pedestrians and bicyclists at this busy commuter location where automobile, rail, bus, and subway lines cross, and where thousands of people each day visit the stores and services around the plaza.

The painted steel walls would be exposed to car exhaust and other airborne pollutants as well as chloride salts from the nearby ocean and from winter snow removal. The wall paint would need to be easily cleaned of dirt films and occasional graffiti using solutions and cleaning agents commonly used by the Cambridge Arts Council. Occasional repainting was not an option due to cost and the interruption of use that would be necessary for the repainting process.

The Tnemec Paint Company specializes in high performance coatings most often used in aerospace and industrial applications. HydroFlon Series 701 paint, available since 2001, is a two-component fluoropolymer with a very hard surface and excellent resistance to ultra-violet light degradation. A fluoropolymer is a compound containing atoms of fluorine bound to the polymer molecule, and is characterized by an unusually high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases.

Due to its extremely high abrasion resistance and chemical stability, the Cambridge Art Council’s conservator recommended the HydroFlon 701. To date, this is the only artwork in the CAC collection with this extraordinary paint system.

Interview with Toshihiro Katayama: 2.24.07

Toshi, could you tell us a little about the project at Porter Square?

Toshihiro Katayama: I was asked to make an art work in Porter Square. The intention of the public art project, I suppose, was building a sculpture or a wall of mural painting. There was already Susumu Shingo’s monumental red kinetic sculpture that marks the MBTA plaza across the street. I needed to come up with something that would not compete with his piece yet prominent. So, I looked at the existing landscape plan. I shouldn’t be so blunt to say this, but I thought that the original landscape plan was quite boring. So, I decided to redesign the landscape of the plaza.

My initial thought was to plant a bunch of evergreens and hide the ordinary-looking shopping plaza and the supermarket behind them. Then it became clear that shop owners would not appreciate such a design that would conceal them. You can imagine… There were several issues like that to be considered.

How did you finally arrive at the finished design?

TK: I thought that Porter Square didn’t need to be more colorful and complicated, because there were already so many people, cars, billboards, and traffic lights. By leaving the Porter Square design quiet and achromatic, the shopping plaza in the background would look colorful and spirited. Fundamentally, the focal point of Porter Square is shopping plaza, individual shops, and the activity surrounding them. The goal of my achromatic design was to bring them out.

The black and white design is also intended to bring out pedestrians by keeping the background achromatic. People wear red, blue, green, yellow clothes and walk in all directions on the plaza. I thought they would look beautiful if their background would be black and white.

There are three islands in the plaza area. They are separated by roads. The challenge of the landscape design was to connect the three islands to create one cohesive place. To go from one island to the other, one had to walk on a pedestrian crosswalk. The crosswalk’s black and white pattern was all over the place. I thought, “I can incorporate the black and white stripes in my design to unite the three islands.” “Let’s make a plaza full of pedestrian crosswalks!”

I know that you were initially considering a rusted surface like corten steel for this structure. How did you come about choosing paint?

TK: Rust is the best in its natural form. But it is inconvenient as a public art structure in a busy space because rust makes pedestrians dirty if they touch it, and it leaves marks on the structure. Some type of wax must be applied to avoid this. But then, it becomes too shiny and turns into something different from the rust I prefer. For this reason I decided to coat the steel structures with black and white paint. I made the decision to use the black and white theme for both the pavement and the structures of Porter Square. My instruction for the steel walls was simple. I requested black and white paint. I wanted to use paint that would not be damaged permanently by graffiti. So I asked for a type of paint from which graffiti could be removed easily.

Thank you, Toshi.

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