Thomas Hirschhorn, "Gramsci Monument" at the Forest Houses, in the Bronx.
The rain forest houses most of the earth's plant and animal population.
By Peter Schjeldahl Visitors to the installation at the Forest Houses, in the South Bronx.
Given his journey from the Bronx's Forest Houses public housing projects to the front row at Madison Square Garden, it's a fair question.
At Forest Houses, Mr. Hirschhorn pursues that belief with a messianic fervor, his wiry, energetic frame seeming to be everywhere at once — working, sweating, recruiting, philosophizing.
Not long ago, Ernesto Valentino, who has lived in the Forest Houses for 50 years, heard gunshots outside his window on consecutive nights.
On Monday, with the help of the Dia Art Foundation and Mr. Farmer, Mr. Hirschhorn will realize his vision of honoring Gramsci, unveiling a monument on the grounds of Forest Houses.
Four months later, a four-year-old boy, Lloyd Morgan, Jr., was killed by crossfire on a playground at the Forest Houses, in the Bronx.
Lloyd was among a group of young children who gathered on July 22 in a playground near the Forest Houses on East 165th Street.
Forest Houses is a different place today, with a dramatically lower crime rate, but violence is still a fact of life.
