If you're in New York, three more tours in the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Access Restricted series await you. The general idea behind Access Restricted is amazing; it is "a free nomadic lecture series that opens rarely visited and often prohibited spaces in Manhattan to the general public. Once inside these unique interiors, the audience is treated to a site-specific lecture and discussion addressing a range of topics revolving around issues of architectural history and preservation, social justice, and urban development."
The mind boggles at the range of spaces that could be visited for such a thing, from historical urban waterworks to the city's food infrastructure, from top secret bank vaults to famous murder sites and the apartments of long-dead poets; this year, the LMCC is focusing on the heady couplet of "Law & Representation":
- Even though Manhattan possesses one of the richest legal infrastructures in the country, the general public hardly ever interacts with these buildings and their use except for a few, very specified situations. In order to showcase this legal fabric, Access Restricted: Law & Representation hosts a series of talks by practicing lawyers and scholars in the palaces and parlors where law is practiced or discussed.
