Gut Renovation

Gentrification is the bane of modern cities; under the veneer of revitalization, corporations push regular inhabitants  from city centers to the peripheries. New York seems to be the most egregious example. Manhattan fell first, then they came for Brooklyn. Su Friedrich films this process from her Williamsburg loft, one she will be forced to abandon, suffering the fate of many other local artists, to make way for a luxury high-rise. Friedrich follows the newly rich hipsters, cataloguing their designer dogs, prams, and haircuts. She pretends to be a wealthy home hunter and at night paints wry graffiti on construction fences. She’s angry, foul-mouthed, and cheeky, and sometimes wades into ridicule, but her protest garners respect: hats off to this battlefield report.