Roadside Americana at Canterbury Museum
Take a road trip through a vanishing part of American life with Canterbury Museum’s latest exhibition, American Roadside Architecture: Photographs by John Margolies.
The works are a reminder of a more innocent time in the United States. Flamboyant roadside architecture developed alongside the 20th century’s love affair with cars — the small-scale design of America’s Main Street was overtaken by bolder, individualistic design that screamed for attention.
Moving cars and moving people required three kinds of experiences on the road: petrol, food and lodgings. The tradition began to go into decline from the 1950s, with the advent of the interstate highway system.
For more than 25 years, Margolies, an architectural historian, clocked up about 160,000km crisscrossing the United States to capture images of gas, food and lodgings and document this vanishing part of American commerce.
Margolies calls the designs of this era, “a kind of visual shorthand intended to attract attention and to get customers to STOP”.
Christchurch City Council is Canterbury Museum’s principal funder. In the museum’s 2005/06 plan, local authorities in the region will contribute about $4.9 million, of which about $4.4m will come from the City Council. These local authority levies are based on population.
- The exhibition runs until 14 August. It is sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America. For more information about Canterbury Museum, look online at www.canterburymuseum.co.nz
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