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Forrest Lewinger

Elevator – Cities and the Sky

-86.153403, 39.767859

In an ode to the ongoing construction in downtown Indianapolis, Forrest Lewinger tells the story of a changing city through the eyes of Gary, a municipal worker who sits each day on top of Indianapolis in the highest floor of the city-county building, in a little-known observatory. This is Gary’s domain, his lookout. He can tell you when each new building was constructed or old one demolished. Elevator-City and the Sky is a musical combination that pays tribute to Gary’s story, as well as the work of Italian author, Italo Calvino. In Calvino’s chapter “Cities and the Sky” in Invisible City (1972), he writes: “What meaning does your construction have?” “What is the aim of a city under construction unless it is a city? Where is the plan you are following, the blueprint?” To answer this, Lewinger uses electronic scratches and rich lyrics to capture the labor of building the character of Indianapolis through Gary’s eyes. Each beat of this track captures the vibrancy of the city as “you watch how it moves” and sends out the reminder that even with change, we are all witnessing and never forgetting the city that was and will be.

• Duration: 03:03

• Year: 2014

• Commissioned by: Fieldworks—National Road