About this project
The idea to create a public art project on the World Wide Web emerged in 2006 after Memphis officials announced plans to sell the Pyramid Arena to Bass Pro Shops for a retail, hotel, and entertainment complex. Although Bass's proposal to turn the now-vacant arena into a "superstore" attraction remains far from reaching its fruition, there is nevertheless a sense that whatever public officials eventually decide to do with the Pyramid will be served up to the people of Memphis as a fait accompli. Instead of watching the fate of the city's most iconic public structure unfold from afar, we thought, why not generate some proposals of our own? By initiating the Thinking About the Pyramid project, we hope to create a forum for voices not typically sanctioned by the planning protocols of urban development (i.e., the development board meeting, the zoning hearing, the chamber of commerce luncheon) and, in doing so, to insist that the Pyramid is a very public space whose fate should not be ceded uncritically to elite business and government interests. We want to open this space to “Thinking About the Pyramid” from citizens, scholars, artists, activists, school children, smart alecks, daydreamers, and anyone else who desires to join in.
How you can participate
We designed this project to be accessible to anyone with an investment in the future of downtown Memphis. By investment we refer to a much broader definition of the term than that usually bandied about in reference to downtown development. We want the "Thinking About the Pyramid" project to recognize the investments of thoughtfulness, hope, curiosity, historical struggle, creativity, love of place, wit, whimsy, and desire for justice that collectively should outweigh any mere equation of dollars and cents.
We invite you to share your investment with us on this site. How would you like to see the Pyramid used? How do you think it would most benefit the people of Memphis? You can post your ideas and images on the site's blog. If you like working with 3-D modeling programs, you are welcome to download our models of the Pyramid for your own project. You also can use a special feature we designed to customize the Pyramid from your Web browser. You don't need to be an artist or an expert to participate--just someone who is interested.