Publication

  • cake
    Bill Mackey
    Author
    Worker, Inc., 2011
  • GRANTEE
    Bill Mackey
    GRANT YEAR
    2010

Midtown Liquors, from A Field Guide to the Convenience Stores of the City of Tucson, Arizona, 2007 © Bill Mackey.

This project is a graphic presentation that discusses shoelaces, NCAA basketball, Paris, Oprah, golf carts, street signs, and sex, and their relation to American perceptions regarding land use and transportation. The book uses art and language to discuss the relationships between architecture, urban planning, and consumer culture and how individuals' perceptions reinforce daily practice. Mackey asks the reader to resituate their perceived notions of scale, the environment, transportation, and economics through images coupled with fiercely sharpened ideas, sardonic wit, random facts, and fundamental human values.

Bill Mackey was born in 1969 in Lansing, Michigan. He received degrees from the University of Illinois (BS in architectural studies, 1991) and the University of Arizona (BArch and MArch, 1994) with a primary focus on the social construction of space. In 1995, he created Worker, Inc., with the intention of bridging the social sciences, planning, architecture, and art. In 2007, he formed the Neighborhood Residents Resources Ethnography Studies Unit, a division of Worker, Inc., to understand local physical environments on a scientific level. In 2007, he co-found the design co*op, a group of designers and architects with the expressed mission that the built environment should improve the quality of life for all. Since its inception, the design co*op, has facilitated sessions with the public and school groups addressing issues of density, public space, and public art. He currently lives in Tucson, Arizona practicing architecture and art, producing multiples, mixed-media collage, digital overlay maps, and Public Platforms for Engagement (PPE).