The Maintenance Post
2020-2022
The Maintenance Post
Eastern Region, Area 2
Colfax, Washington (Spring 2020)
North Central Region, Area 1
Wenatchee, Washington (Summer 2022)
Olympic Region, Area 4
Aberdeen, Washington (Autumn 2022)
Olympic Region, Area 4
Aberdeen, Washington (Autumn 2022)
Aberdeen, Washington (Autumn 2022)
PARTNERS
Washington State Department of Transportation
Smart Growth America
Art Place America
National Endowment for the Arts
Washington State Department of Transportation
FUNDERS
Art Place America
National Endowment for the Arts
DESIGNED BY
Office of Virtue
Office of Virtue
The thing about maintenance is that if everything is working well, nobody notices. The Maintenance Post humanizes the people-powered practice of stewarding our shared transportation network. Each issue of the publication features a different regional area’s maintenance staff and the sectional maintenance facilities within. Through a series of generative, intentionally meta research, editors curate data, stories, observations, maps, legislation, and statistics into a dynamic pocket-sized portrait of the work it takes to keep us moving around. Distribution of the publication is centered in public community facilities such as libraries, post offices, city halls, and rest areas.
An issue of The Maintenance Post can bridge the relationship between maintenance work and localized communities, be shared across state lines to other transportation departments, and serve as a critical personal link to the traveling public. If we can creatively educate the traveling public to better understand the service of transportation maintenance workers, perhaps we can inspire a political shift towards funding infrastructure within legislature.
The Maintenance Post is at it’s core an interdisciplinary arts-inclusive collaborative research project. It is an innovative and the first of its kind collaboration of artists and statewide transportation departments. The project is on-going and has the ability to have impact at a range of scales, from local communities to state legislators. The project is based on deep, in the field research from urban to rural places.
Related Work & Projects
We are committed to making visible the undercurrents and overtures of the working world around us. Our projects live at the intersection of creative production and social engagement, building futures from neighbor-to-neighbor dialogue, civic sharing, and bright-eyed perspectives.
hivisagency@gmail.com