BUS STOP

The permanent sculpture, unveiled last month, is located on S. East Avenue, next to Creative Alliance, one of the partners in the project, with Southeast Community Development Corporation in conjunction with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), and SPAIN arts & culture. Its function is clearly stated in the form of the wood-and-steel letters. In the words of mmmm..., "[our] mission was to transform the dull experience of waiting for the bus to an entertaining, leisurely space in the middle of the hectic rhythm of the city."

The large-scale topography reminds us of Lettering Large, the book by Steven Heller and Mirko Ilič, whom we interviewed last year. They refer to type as "the best multitasker of them all," in terms of the blurring of disciplines like architecture, art, and graphic design. In this Baltimore bus stop we see the three fields merging to create a functional sculpture that is fun to look at and fun to interact with, something very few bus stops can boast.