Park Bench


The film, Park Bench, employs the agency of park benches to explore both the defined and undefined social codes of behavior and politics of public space in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. Although the viewer never actually sees a bench appear throughout the eight- minute film, the narrative unfolds from various benches and the dialogical investigation of bench behavior reveals the complex codes of social behavior in the park while and also exposes a bureaucratic hierarchy reflected in the urban society that surrounds the park. The characters in the film include park users volunteers employees act involuntarily act out multiple perceptions based on their relationship to the park experience.