PROGRESS PROMENADE
playlist
The Progress Promenade is about growing Cleveland from The City of Rock and Roll through Progressive Rock.
Progressive rock takes the existing pieces of rock and roll (formalism) and adds and subtracts elements (eclecticism) to produce something new. This idea finds itself in approaching the complexity and issues of the site and disconnection of Lake Front to City by combing the functioning infrastructure with a rhythmic application of varying influences all found within the scope of Progress.
The foundational intersection of the connections of City to Lake and Flats to Tourist Sector, Language – The Contortionist functions as the stem from which all paths grow from. Applied for the song’s and album’s nature of evolution and progress and imagery culminated into a tree and root system branching in all directions, the intersection functions as the heart of connectivity and growth within the Progress Promenade.
The east boundary of the Progress Promenade begins with The Path – Haken, a progressive rock introductory track stating the challenges and rewards of growth while starting the conceptual conversation of how the motion through space can be a reflection of a rejection of stagnation.
Every Piece Matters – Plini is a playful nod to the acknowledgement that all interactions along the journey of growth are important to be reflected on and absorbed in order to produce a more enlightened state of being.
The section influenced by Money – Pink Floyd begins to speak to the complexity of economic structures criticized in the song through means of an almost labryinthian center of commerce rigidly informed by the infrastructure already in place.
What Time Taught Us – The Dear Hunter provides an atmospheric transition out of the complexity of our socioeconomic systems. The song speaks to living in and enjoying the moment. This with an intentional juxtaposition to the hysteria-inducing “Money” section serves as a pause from the madness experienced in the ever-forward march of time and takes the form of growth through nature, removing the formed boundaries of the urban environment.
International Feel – Todd Rundgren was selected for its overt lyrical relation to the idea of progress and the multifaceted album it heralds from. The song within the album functions as bookends where its conceptual placement within the Progress Promenade act as both the beginning and the end depending on the Subject’s perspective. As the parallaxical beginning and ending, this piece acts as a connective piece, realizing itself in the form of a new stop along the existing RTA line.
Lateralus – Tool is based in the Fibonacci sequence and influenced greatly by the concept of constant growth branching, and spiraling “randomly”. This concept has been applied to the connection piece of the North Flats Stair which devolves into numerous paths all rooted in the Fibonacci sequence as well. This connection piece meets with the International Feel node where the two infinitely spiral intertwined.
Apeirophobia – Animals as Leaders acts as a counterpoint to the infinite growth sparked by Lateralus. The concept of an extreme (but in this sense, rational) fear of infinity inspired the literal representation where the path of motion is never certain or clear, only guided through a series of lights that denote an external guidance that those searching for a path look for. This path directs the self out of fear-inspired complexity to the tranquility of the moment.
The intersection of Parallax through Money and What Time Taught Us is keen to invoke the dualism of attempting to move forward in a world with such distinctly differing modes of existence. The parallax experience takes place at two points, in the Promenade and along the Lake Front. As one enters the Observation sphere, they ascend into a futurist take on the classical “Panorama”, taking in a delayed live feed from the 360 degree camera located in the Viewing Tower, projecting an out-of-body experience and providing the possibility of viewing oneself from a different perspective.
Here and There – Chon acts in a comparatively similar connective aspect as International Feel, musically applying foundational rock-jazz fusion elements to an electronic new-age beat structure. These influences inform the style and rhythm applied to the RTA/AMTRAK station that serves local, regional, and national travelers.
Racecar – Periphery functions in a similar way to International Feel, becoming both beginning and end of the Promenade. The palindromic song is selected to challenge which point is entry, and which is exit while taking the roll of the epic, a standard in the genre of Progressive Rock. At fifteen minutes and twenty one seconds, the song can be experienced from start to finish while moving from one end of the Promenade to the other.
