Have a seat, enjoy the street in the name of art

Everything has been tried on Market Street except maybe a porch swing.

“Oh, yes, 24/7,” says Smith, who built this three-ton stack of redwood and molded plastic, 10 by 24 feet, with 11 movable parts, like Lincoln Logs.

Called “Block by Block,” it is functional public sculpture with a seating capacity of 20 or 25.

When they shut down at 3 p.m., a stitchery group will hold a “Crochet Jam,” and at 6:30 p.m. opening ceremonies will commence with a dance performance.

[...] as darkness falls, the white plastic blocks will light up from within as “Block by Block” becomes a viewing platform for “Giant,” a brilliant mural of a spray-can-toting graffiti artist by OSGEMEOS that is spotlighted on a high wall across the street.

Simultaneously, three other murals, by Jenny Sharaf, Clare Rojas and OSGEMEOS with Mark Bode, will jump out of buildings to announce “Light Up Central Market,” a nighttime art exhibit that will last a year under funding by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation on a $100,000 grant.

The City Planning Department supplied the sidewalk space and permits under its Living Innovation Zones program to liven up Market with art.

Smith, 63, has been wanting to return public seating to the broad sidewalk of Market since the old granite-block benches were removed by the city in the late 1990s.

[...] those are all gone, and Smith thinks the street has gotten safe enough “to bring back something that is commonplace in cities around the world,” he says.

No other city has seating like this, where among other features you can climb up to the top level, 4 feet above the street, stand “and speak your truth,” Smith says.

Embedded in the plastic benches are low-voltage LED lights, and embedded in the steel are speakers.

Smith thinks of the finished product as more of a rocking bench than a porch swing.

People could be rocking gently on every block, which would add to the entertainment value for tourists riding the F-Market streetcar.