Harrison Haiku

The Harrison Red Line stop is the entryway to Columbia College Chicago in the South Loop neighborhood. Like the neighborhood itself, the station is gritty and cold. Columbia is known for being an innovative art and media school and this station falls short of what the school is capable of. If the point is to provide public art for thousands of people it should be bold, graphic and able to grab the attention of riders. Instead small type in tiny ITC Franklin Gothic font blends into the light of the dimly lit archway. Columbia adopted the Harrison stop along with Jones College Prep to provide public art for the thousands of commuters that pass through the station everyday. Haikus, 17 syllable poems, show a glimpse of the work by Columbia poets.
The poetry itself feels like the beginning of an untold story. Like a fragment, the haikus offer only a glimpse or a thought of an idea. Unfinished with the promise of possibilities. None of them make sense without a larger context. Although the haikus are short, they don’t stand out enough to be read by passers by. I personally use the station twice a week and no matter how long I have had to wait for a train, reading these excerpts would be the last thing I would do.
The colors are what stand out the most at the Harrison station. Hues of green and orange from Columbia’s color palette speckle throughout from the mezzanine to the subway below. Bold leaves (of change?) stamp the walls prominently, but fail to impact riders and students alike. They leave the viewer, confused and annoyed at the meaningless stamps.
To be fair, the idea is there. Columbia needs to take responsibility and really represent the school in a way that creates positive attention and not an afterthought. Photographs, murals, and light exhibits are just a few ideas to make the station one we can all be proud of. How affective these haikus are is anyone’s guess. The intention is excellent, but the layout is easily missed. Most people would only see a blur of typeface while commuting, but few probably are able to stop and read what they actually say.