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July 7, 2009
Superstore Me: Guilt, Rituals and Red Bags
The NY Times
THEATER REVIEW | 'BEHIND THE BULLSEYE'
By Jason Zinoman
When Target opened in 2004 at [Bruce Ratner's] Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn, this Minnesota-based superstore, trying to fit in, threw an invite-only party where a D.J. and local celebrities (including Maggie Gyllenhaal and Lizzie Grubman) mingled among two floors of Gatorade, kitchen appliances and reasonably priced consumer goods.
...
Target has not attracted the controversy of the nearby Atlantic Yards project, which plans to add a stadium and a new skyline of towers to downtown Brooklyn. But for some locals it’s part of the out-of-scale corporate sheen that threatens the spirit of their leafy borough. Anxiety about this development is stylishly illustrated in “Behind the Bullseye,” an intimate Target polemic that looks like one of Reverend Billy’s nightmares staged by Robert Wilson on a budget.
NoLandGrab: Three Points
1. Target is in reality a designer big-box store, adding to developer Bruce Ratner's collection of superstores that now litter NY cityscape.
2. For more proof that appearances matter, one could say that the Frank Gehry-designed Atlantic Yards project had not attracted the controversy as the off-the-shelf Atlantic Yards project Bruce Ratner is now proposing.
3. The Times should know by now, it's an "arena," not a "stadium."
Posted by lumi at July 7, 2009 5:31 AM