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THE NEWEST<br />
BOOGAZINE ON<br />
DESIGN AND<br />
COMMUNICATION<br />
REACT<br />
IN THE 21ST<br />
CENTURY!
TEXTS ON REACT | 2
TEXTS ON REACT | 3
credits<br />
Published by:<br />
Actar D<br />
Roca i Batlle 2<br />
08023 BARCELONA<br />
Tel. +34 93 418 77 59<br />
Fax +34 93 418 67 07<br />
office@actar-d.com<br />
Edited by:<br />
Anna Tetas, Ramón Prat, Marc Mascort.<br />
Designed by:<br />
Javi Medina<br />
www.javimedina.com<br />
Visit our web site at www.actar.com - www.actar-d.com<br />
©2009 Actar Distribution<br />
All rights reserved<br />
Printed and Bound in Spain
REACT
WHAT A PERFECT,<br />
PERFECT WORLD.<br />
So much order and planning, so many grids, routines and systems. Its mechanical intricacies<br />
are astounding and mesmerizing; it has a pulse all its own. Even now the soft,<br />
humming anesthesia of the city seeks to replace what thoughts you may still be allowed<br />
to have with white noise. We are here to guard against exactly that. As citizens, we obediently<br />
pay our landlords to let us inhabit the homes we make, and we talk casually of<br />
the atrocities that our governments commit in our name – so what does it take to end<br />
these absurdities? What new forms must we explore, and how can we assume them? How<br />
can we weld visual communication to social justice? The answers are as complex and as<br />
varied as the artists featured in this compilation. In honoring the libertarian ethic that we<br />
prefer, we've come together to applaud one another, and to provide a narrative about these<br />
activist efforts while simultaneously participating in them. Our work might be described<br />
as that design which must be done in pursuit of a more humane and libertarian world,<br />
and which claims that notions of freedom and ethical conduct are most poignant when<br />
communicated visually. Where mainstream media frames debates, our goal is to open<br />
them up or smash them to pieces. Where undemocratic structures put up barriers around<br />
our liberties, we are there to subvert them. Many of us have carved out wholly unique<br />
(and frequently noncommercial) spaces where we conduct our work, and explore alternative<br />
design practices as a means, not an end. Rather than sell revolution, or use revolution<br />
to sell a brand, we actively participate in creating that cumulative occurrence that is social<br />
change. In our line of work, we can find at least one common theme: influencing systems<br />
through design is central to success. If a designer’s work tangibly contributes to fashioning<br />
and furthering alternative modes of social organization, it’s working. That design<br />
which proffers what could be, and which prefers community and participation thrives in<br />
this environment. It's a rebellion against monoculture, and the editors of this volume are<br />
perfectly correct in labeling our work “reactive.” But it's proactive, too. Cultural production<br />
of this variety questions and dismantles dominant ideologies. It is in character for us<br />
to not wish for the reform of unjust systems, but to disrupt them and hand out the tools<br />
with which to skirt or dismantle them. We work from an unscripted reality, and alleviate<br />
(rather than enforce) politics. There is something to be said about this foundation that<br />
we work from, and our propensity to thereby create new channels of communicating. The<br />
spaces we create through our solidarity, while temporary, are autonomous, culturally relevant,<br />
and inclusive. Through our nonparticipation in anything we believe to be evil, we are<br />
forging another route. We still sense that there is a life to live, one where we control our<br />
own actions, and where the only pulse we hear is not of the city, but the one in our lover's<br />
chest. We see a world where people are compelled by their own will, and where no one is<br />
subjected to the numbness of being “under control,” because desire of any sort is always<br />
our own, and no one can take it from us. We are creating this world and dismantling an<br />
old one, for what better way to build a new world than in our hearts!
STEREOGRAPH REACT is already alive with<br />
extra and multimedia content, just waiting to<br />
be found. And now there’s i-nigma to fasttrack<br />
you to wherever you want to go. Fire up<br />
i-nigma on your mobile, scan the smartcodes<br />
below, and connect direct to extra contents in<br />
www.stereograph.com<br />
A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional<br />
bar code) created by Japanese corporation<br />
Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived<br />
from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended<br />
the code to allow its contents to be decoded<br />
at high speed.<br />
License<br />
QR Code is an open format - the format’s specification<br />
is available royalty -free from its<br />
owner, who has promised not to exert patent<br />
rights on it. The term QR Code itself is a registered<br />
trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.<br />
www.i-nigma.com<br />
www.denso-wave.com/qrcode<br />
www.stereograph.com
GET INTO REGISTER<br />
REACT
INDEX OF<br />
CONTENTS<br />
INDEX OF CONTENTS | 10
TEXTS ON REACT<br />
CHAPTER I<br />
CULTURE JAMMING<br />
CHAPTER II<br />
POLITICAL ART<br />
CHAPTER III<br />
PUBLIC INTERVENTIONS<br />
CHAPTER IV<br />
MAPPING YOUR REALITY<br />
CHAPTER V<br />
URBAN TYPOS<br />
CHAPTER VI<br />
ACTIVISM<br />
CHAPTER VII<br />
ARTIVISM<br />
CHAPTER VIII<br />
HACKTIVISM<br />
CHAPTER IX<br />
CRAFTIVISM<br />
CHAPTER X<br />
GRÁFICA POPULAR<br />
CHAPTER XI<br />
8|13<br />
14|65<br />
66|89<br />
90|91<br />
92|95<br />
96|105<br />
106|111<br />
112|123<br />
124|129<br />
130|171<br />
172|230<br />
INDEX OF CONTENTS | 11
TEXTS ON REACT | 12
STEREOGRAPH #01 REACT<br />
We want to launch the series with an issue devoted to reactive graphics: in other words,<br />
those graphic works that express a reaction to a situation of injustice or defend a particular<br />
culture against the domination of more global languages. Quite simply, it is a<br />
question of celebrating the critical or dissident potential of graphic designers and visual<br />
communicators, the effectiveness of their tools and the intrinsic value of their independent<br />
proposals, with an evident capacity to innovate and stimulate reflection. We believe<br />
there is a better alternative to the passive dérive of an environment so absorbing and<br />
asphyxiating that it obliges us to rebel against it, in the form of a reaction to the imposition<br />
of a uniform homogeneity on our distinctive local models and references, resulting in<br />
the disappearance of situations and actions unique to autochthonous cultures: scenarios<br />
peopled by Frankenstein-like hybrids fashioned from the merging of vernacular references<br />
and other, more ‘globalized’ models. We also find scenarios in which to rebel against<br />
social injustice, whose origins are in most cases political: wars, dictatorships, oppressive<br />
regimes... Of course, this is not a new phenomenon; such critiques have always found<br />
expression, from the old broadsheets and pamphlets to the present-day weblogs, but<br />
there is no denying that the latest high-tech tools have given a new dimension to such<br />
movements, far more global, with a much stronger media presence. Another, related<br />
aspect that we will be looking at in this first issue is the importance of the Internet as a<br />
medium of diffusion, and of the information technologies tools and programmes, graphic<br />
environments and the rest at the disposal of today’s graphic designers. All of these<br />
things have provided the basis for a huge variety of responses, from groups asserting<br />
that another world is possible and anti-global movements that oppose the present the<br />
system to works by individual designers and visual communicators who, moved by an<br />
awareness of injustices or as a tool of protest, voice their critiques in independent, personal<br />
creations that in many cases are not commissioned by a client. Happening in the<br />
world. Certain designers would be the subject of in-depth studies, while other would be<br />
given a more cursory treatment. Possible participants: Doma, Masa, Stefan Sagmeister,<br />
Jonathan Barnbrook, Kenneth Tin Kin Hung, Nuevos Ricos… In relation to the above, we<br />
would look at teams such as Adbusters, Worldchanging, Bureau d’études, moveon, etc.,<br />
some of which would be the subject of detailed analysis. We would compare presentday<br />
groups, which primarily operate on the Internet as a platform, with more traditional<br />
formations such as NGOs or historic movements of revolt, and on this basis explore the<br />
duality between the activism of diffusion and the activism of action. Urban dissidence,<br />
culture jamming: Rotor, Billboard Liberation Front, Martin Bricelj, Joystick… In the field of<br />
music, rap and hip-hop provide a very powerful example of radical social protest. With<br />
their lyrics, groups like Public Enemy react against the system in the same way as graphic<br />
designers do with their visual language. Another interesting phenomenon here is the<br />
free distribution of music and texts, a concept that is being developed by Platoniq and<br />
others. Look inside Copyleft. The issue will necessarily have a significant amount of texts<br />
and articles that will both structure and provide a counterpoint to the more visual part.<br />
The texts will serve to contextualize the different sections.<br />
TEXTS ON REACT | 13
A ROCKET<br />
IS NOT A SHIELD<br />
IT'S A WEAPON<br />
P.O. Box 910138<br />
12413 Berlin Germany<br />
loesje@loesje.org<br />
www.loesje.org<br />
TEXTS ON REACT | 14
FIRST THINGS<br />
FIRST 1964:<br />
A MANIFESTO<br />
Published writing by Ken Garland<br />
We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, photographers and students who have been<br />
brought up in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently<br />
been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable means of using<br />
our talents. We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief, applauding<br />
the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as:<br />
cat food, stomach powders, detergent, hair restorer, striped toothpaste, aftershave lotion,<br />
beforeshave lotion, slimming diets, fattening diets, deodorants, fizzy water, cigarettes,<br />
roll-ons, pull-ons and slip-ons.<br />
By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on these<br />
trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity.<br />
In common with an increasing numer of the general public, we have reached a saturation<br />
point at which the high pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer<br />
noise. We think that there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on.<br />
There are signs for streets and buildings, books and periodicals, catalogues, instructional<br />
manuals, industrial photography, educational aids, films, television features, scientific and<br />
industrial publications and all the other media through which we promote our trade, our<br />
education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world.<br />
We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: this is not feasible.<br />
Nor do we want to take any of the fun out of life. But we are proposing a reversal<br />
of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication. We<br />
hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders,<br />
and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes. With this in<br />
mind we propose to share our experience and opinions, and to make them available to<br />
colleagues, students and others who may be interested.<br />
Edward Wright |Geoffrey White |William Slack | Caroline Rawlence |Ian McLaren |Sam Lambert |Ivor Kamlish |Gerald Jones<br />
Bernard Han Grimbly |John Garner |Ken Garland |Anthony Froshaug |Robin Fior |Germano Facetti |Ivan Dodd |Harriet Crowder<br />
Anthony Clift |Gerry Cinamon |Robert Chapman |Ray Carpenter |Ken Briggs |<br />
TEXTS ON REACT | 15
TEXTS ON REACT | 16
FIRST THINGS<br />
FIRST 2000:<br />
A DESIGN MANIFESTO<br />
We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who<br />
have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have<br />
persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our<br />
talents. Many design teachers and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards it; a<br />
tide of books and publications reinforces it.<br />
Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell<br />
dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards,<br />
sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles. Commercial work<br />
has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large<br />
measure, what graphic designers do. This, in turn, is how the world perceives design. The<br />
profession’s time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential<br />
at best.<br />
Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers<br />
who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are<br />
supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial<br />
messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond<br />
and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful<br />
code of public discourse.<br />
There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental,<br />
social and cultural crises demand our attention. Many cultural interventions,<br />
social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, television<br />
programs, films, charitable causes and other information design projects urgently require<br />
our expertise and help.<br />
We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms<br />
of communication - a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration<br />
and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must<br />
expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives<br />
expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design.<br />
In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile<br />
use. With the explosive growth of global commercial culture, their message has<br />
only grown more urgent. Today, we renew their manifesto in expectation that no more<br />
decades will pass before it is taken to heart.<br />
Jonathan Barnbrook |Nick Bell |Andrew Blauvelt |Hans Bockting |Irma Boom |Sheila Levrant de Bretteville |Max Bruinsma |Siân<br />
Cook |Linda van Deursen |Chris Dixon |William Drenttel |Gert Dumbar |Simon Esterson |Vince Frost |Ken Garland |Milton Glaser<br />
Jessica Helfand |Steven Heller |Andrew Howard |Tibor Kalman |Jeffery Keedy |Zuzana Licko |Ellen Lupton |Katherine McCoy<br />
Armand Mevis |J. Abbott Miller |Rick Poynor |Lucienne Roberts |Erik Spiekermann |Jan van Toorn |Teal Triggs |Rudy VanderLans |<br />
Bob Wilkinson and many more<br />
TEXTS ON REACT | 17
CULTURE JAMMING | 18
CHAPTER II<br />
CULTURE JAMMING<br />
CULTURE JAMMING | 19
BILLBOARD<br />
LIBERATION FRONT<br />
The BLF Manifesto<br />
Jack Napier | John Thomas<br />
In the beginning was the Ad. The Ad was brought to the<br />
consumer by the Advertiser. Desire, self worth, self image,<br />
ambition, hope; all find their genesis in the Ad. Through the<br />
Ad and the intent of the Advertiser we form our ideas and<br />
learn the myths that make us into what we are as a people.<br />
That this method of self definition displaced the earlier<br />
methods is beyond debate. It is now clear that the Ad holds<br />
the most esteemed position in our cosmology.<br />
CULTURE JAMMING | 20
Advertising suffuses all corners of our<br />
waking lives; it so permeates our consciousness<br />
that even our dreams are often<br />
indistinguishable from a rapid succession<br />
of TV commercials. Different forms of<br />
media serve the Ad as primary conduits to<br />
the people. Entirely new media have been<br />
invented solely to streamline the process of<br />
bringing the Ad to the people.<br />
Old fashioned notions about art, science<br />
and spirituality being the peak achievements<br />
and the noblest goals of the spirit<br />
of man have been dashed on the crystalline<br />
shores of Acquisition; the holy pursuit<br />
of consumer goods. All old forms and<br />
philosophies have been cleverly co-opted<br />
and re”spun” as marketing strategies and<br />
consumer campaigns by the new shamans,<br />
the Ad men. Spiritualism, literature and the<br />
physical arts: painting, sculpture, music<br />
and dance are by and large produced, packaged<br />
and consumed in the same fashion<br />
as a new car. Product contents, dictated by<br />
trends in hipness, contain a half-life matching<br />
the producers calender for being<br />
supplanted by newer models.<br />
Product placement in television and film<br />
have overtaken story line, character development<br />
and other dated strategies in<br />
importance in the agendas of the filmmakers.<br />
The directors commanding the<br />
biggest budgets have more often than not<br />
cut their teeth on TV Ads & music videos.<br />
Artists are judged and rewarded on the<br />
basis of their relative standing in the<br />
ongoing commodification of art objects.<br />
Bowing to fashion and the vagaries of<br />
gallery culture, these creators attempt<br />
to manufacture collectible baubles and<br />
contemporary or “period” objects that will<br />
successfully penetrate the collectors market.<br />
The most successful artists are those<br />
who can most successfully sell their art.<br />
With increasing frequency they apprentice<br />
to the Advertisers; no longer needing<br />
to falsely maintain the distinction between<br />
“Fine” & “Commercial” art.<br />
And so we see, the Ad defines our world,<br />
creating both the focus on “image” and<br />
the culture of consumption that ultimately<br />
attract and inspire all individuals desirous<br />
of communicating to their fellow man in a<br />
profound fashion. It is clear that He who<br />
controls the Ad speaks with the voice of<br />
our Age.<br />
You can switch off/smash/shoot/hack or<br />
in other ways avoid Television, Computers<br />
and Radio. You are not compelled to<br />
buy magazines or subscribe to newspapers.<br />
You can sic your rotweiler on door to<br />
door salesman. Of all the types of media<br />
used to disseminate the Ad there is only<br />
one which is entirely inescapable to all but<br />
the bedridden shut-in or the Thoreauian<br />
misanthrope. We speak, of course of the<br />
Billboard. Along with its lesser cousins,<br />
advertising posters and “bullet” outdoor<br />
graphics, the Billboard is ubiquitous and<br />
inescapable to anyone who moves through<br />
our world. Everyone knows the Billboard;<br />
the Billboard is in everyones mind. For<br />
these reasons the Billboard Liberation<br />
Front states emphatically and for all time<br />
herein that to Advertise is to Exist. To Exist<br />
is to Advertise. Our ultimate goal is nothing<br />
short of a personal and singular Billboard<br />
for each citizen. Until that glorious day for<br />
global communications when every man,<br />
woman and child can scream at or sing to<br />
the world in 100Pt. type from their very<br />
own rooftop; until that day we will continue<br />
to do all in our power to encourage the<br />
masses to use any means possible to commandeer<br />
the existing media and to alter it<br />
to their own design.<br />
Each time you change the Advertising<br />
message in your own mind, whether you<br />
climb up onto the board and physically<br />
change the original copy and graphics or<br />
not, each time you improve the message,<br />
you enter in to the High Priesthood of<br />
Advertisers.<br />
CULTURE JAMMING | 21
DESTROY<br />
THE MEDIA<br />
CULTURE JAMMING | 22
INTERVIEW WITH PETER FUSS<br />
by James David (Groundswell Talks)<br />
Peter Fuss reclaims billboards to examine and evaluate present,<br />
socially taboo subjects. He’s been a fugitive, a critic,<br />
and many other things. Chiefly a painter these days, his<br />
work comments on politics, the relationships between religion<br />
and authority, flashy religiosity, social problems, and<br />
art.<br />
Peter was generous enough to lend us a few minutes for an interview, after putting in<br />
some hard work on his latest project - a re-imagination of the Catholic Stations of the<br />
Cross, which forces one to think twice about perceptions of criminality.<br />
Groundswell Collective: For our readers who aren’t as familiar with your background,<br />
can you give us a brief rundown of your life up until today?<br />
Peter Fuss: I did many different things, many of them not even worth mentioning. Now<br />
I mainly paint. I am most known for works in acrylic paint on paper which I then illegally<br />
place in urban landscape. To do that, I use billboards which are plentiful on the streets.<br />
When painting or designing an installation, do you start by thinking about the social<br />
issue first, or do you put design first?<br />
Both design and content are important in art works. To make a piece interesting, both<br />
of these must maintain equilibrium and fit well with each other. When one of them starts<br />
dominating, the piece becomes boring. I favor work of artists who are able to balance<br />
both form and content. To me, it is not only important how an artist speaks, but most of<br />
all what he/she is actually saying. I am not excited by abstract works or excessively vivid<br />
graffiti with no message. Therefore, the starting point for my work is definitely a message,<br />
idea.<br />
You work illegally and commercially. Where do you feel most at home?<br />
I set my work in the streets because this helps me show my work to people I would never<br />
be able to reach through an art gallery. Besides, street art gives me unlimited freedom.<br />
I work when I feel like and do what I want. I don’t have to agree anything with any art<br />
gallery manager. I don’t have to keep deadlines, get my ideas assessed or consult my<br />
projects. These are the main advantages of working in urban environment. Of course, I<br />
also exhibit in galleries if I am invited. The precondition though is that no one will interfere<br />
with my vision.<br />
“My exhibition of January 2007 was shut down by the police on the second day after<br />
the opening and they seized all paintings, which haven’t been returned to me to this<br />
day.”<br />
I don’t know if that is a problem in the U.S., but in recent years Poland saw many cases of<br />
interfering with works of art on display, we’ve had interventions from the police and local<br />
authorities or pieces being withdrawn from display by scared curators. My exhibition of<br />
January 2007 was shut down by the police on the second day after the opening and they<br />
seized all paintings, which haven’t been returned to me to this day. I was prosecuted by<br />
the police for 6 months because of the contents of the billboard I illegally posted on a<br />
CULTURE JAMMING | 24
CULTURE JAMMING | 25
fence in front of the church and the public prosecutor spoke to the press of the sanctions<br />
I could face. Then they discontinued the case as they were unable to find me.<br />
Over the past few years, you’ve worked outside of Poland, both in the scope of your<br />
work, and literally, attending more events in other countries. For the Laugh of God<br />
debuted in London, for example. What brought about the shift for you, and has it<br />
changed the way you work?<br />
Freedom to travel and taking part in events in various countries is nothing extraordinary<br />
in today’s world. I’ve lived in different places and all experiences I had surely influenced<br />
me, to a varied degree of course. But it is not a question of place where I live or interacting<br />
with different people and cultures that is decisive of the subject matter of my work –<br />
it is rather the times we live in that determines my perception of this world. The fact that<br />
Americans elected Bush has a direct impact on the life of people outside the U.S. Polish<br />
soldiers die on a war started by Bush in Iraq. Thanks to the media and the Internet, photographs<br />
of Hillary Clinton crying during the primaries are seen immediately in Poland<br />
and in Texas. The fact that Hirst exhibited his diamond skull in White Cube in London was<br />
known on the same day in Los Angeles, Kiev and Sydney.<br />
Many of the installations of yours that I’ve seen are serial. Do you set out to create a<br />
series of installations, or do you let the setting determine how far you take a concept?<br />
I don’t create series just because I feel like it. The subject matter determines it. So sometimes<br />
it takes a series and sometimes one piece is sufficient.<br />
A good deal of your work deals with the Pope. Why the fixation?<br />
It is not the fixation, it is a reaction to the reality around me. I live in Poland, Pope John<br />
Paul II was a Pole and even when he was alive the scale of his worship was really grotesque,<br />
and after his death it only intensified. Right now there are about 500 monuments of<br />
the Pope in this country. You can see the Pope’s images on mugs, ballpoints, or lighters.<br />
The cult of the Pope is a very particular mixture of hillbilly, superficial faith with a large<br />
dose of kitsch and bad taste.<br />
The Pope is worshipped and loved by masses. But to them, he is more of an idol, a<br />
superstar than a spiritual leader, as paradoxically they know very little of his teachings or<br />
Papal encyclicals.<br />
The cult of the Pope is a very particular mixture of hillbilly, superficial faith with a large<br />
dose of kitsch and bad taste. People prefer to have pictures showing the Pope than Jesus<br />
Christ. They are also much more sensitive over the Pope than Christ. In Poland, it would<br />
be more acceptable to caricature or make a joke on Christ rather than the Pope. The<br />
police intervened several times during my exhibition on the Pope after they were called<br />
by people that felt offended by it.<br />
What were some of your early influences?<br />
As a young boy I lived in a country that was not independent. You couldn’t travel abroad,<br />
I even remember the period when it was not possible to travel freely between cities – to<br />
do that, you needed a special permit, which was checked by the military and the police.<br />
The state-controlled television had only two channels, the press was censored and<br />
before playing a concert, every band had to have their lyrics approved by institutions<br />
which made sure that no dissent was voiced. It was not a free country. You could go to<br />
jail for criticizing those in power. You would see “graffiti” saying people wanted freedom,<br />
that those in power cheated, that TV lied. The form was unimportant – it was the message<br />
that mattered. Those people expressed their need of freedom, they fought the sys-<br />
CULTURE JAMMING | 26
tem by writing politically involved slogans. It was their way to manifest their views and<br />
express their dissent against the regime. And they really risked prison.<br />
You would see “graffiti” saying people wanted freedom, that those in power cheated,<br />
that TV lied. The form was unimportant – it was the message that mattered.<br />
Those were my first contacts with graffiti activism. It taught me to be uncompromising<br />
and believe in the sense of manifesting myself, my beliefs and ideas. It taught me that it’s<br />
important to be true to one’s beliefs and express one’s individuality and independence,<br />
even if that might cause serious repercussions to me. Therefore, when Harring painted<br />
in the subway and Basquiat fulfilled his creativity on Brooklyn walls, I had contact with<br />
completely different type of graffiti activism<br />
Can you tell us about your most recent project?<br />
My latest project is a series of 14 billboards showing the Stations of the Cross. In the<br />
Catholic tradition (more than 90% of Polish population declare being Catholics) there is<br />
this tradition of acting out the Stations of the Cross before Easter. I posted my billboards<br />
on the Good Friday at the city train stations so people going to work would see different<br />
Stations of the Cross posted on successive train stops. But it wasn’t my goal to make<br />
people more spiritual or to promote Christianity among people.<br />
Christ was portrayed in the same way as criminals and suspects are shown in media<br />
coverage: surname abbreviated (”Jesus Ch.”) and face shown in a way so as to make it<br />
impossible to identify the person. On one hand this reflected how the media trivialize<br />
stories of individuals, but most of all I wanted to point to the fact which many people<br />
seem to forget that Christ was a revolutionary who challenged the existing law and order.<br />
Nowadays, people who break the rules and challenge the law and order imposed by the<br />
system are being sentenced and imprisoned, notwithstanding the fact that Christ, who<br />
also broke the rules, is worshipped.<br />
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TEXTS ON REACT | 28
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ENVIROMENTAL GRAFFITI<br />
MOSS<br />
GRAFFITTI<br />
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Wouldn’t it be lovely if politicians cared<br />
about people, architects only wanted to<br />
create affordable and environmentally<br />
sustainable houses, tabloid papers ceased<br />
to concern themselves with the indiscretions<br />
of celebrities? I am the first to admit<br />
that I live in a dream world and one of my<br />
dreams was to create green graffiti from<br />
moss. One day on my lunch break at work<br />
I noticed some beautiful emerald green<br />
moss growing around the base of a bollard<br />
in the street and I began to wonder how<br />
it grew and why in such random places.<br />
A quick internet search later showed me<br />
that horticulturist's of the past had come<br />
up with a recipe to encourage the growth<br />
of moss to age and add interest to their<br />
garden designs. I wondered if this recipe<br />
could be used as an environmentally friendly<br />
alternative to spray paint.<br />
Following a number of failed attempts I<br />
found that the success of the recipe itself<br />
can be very hit and miss and is dependent<br />
upon choosing exactly the right location<br />
and weather conditions; there is an<br />
enormous variety of moss species, each<br />
with their individual environmental needs.<br />
Although the examples shown here are<br />
far from what I have been able to achieve<br />
from pure use of the recipe, I have since<br />
received tips and advice from many people<br />
across the world and it felt like magic when<br />
my first design emerged in moss from the<br />
milkshake that I had painted. It seems as<br />
if others are now experimenting with the<br />
idea and new versions of the recipe are<br />
evolving and appearing across the internet<br />
with regularity. My latest dream is that one<br />
day I will walk down my street and discover<br />
a beautiful moss graffiti design that a<br />
kindred spirit has created.<br />
RECIPE<br />
· Several clumps of moss<br />
· 1 pot of natural yoghurt or<br />
12oz buttermilk (experiment to<br />
see which works best)<br />
· 1/2 teaspoon of sugar<br />
· Blender<br />
· Plastic pot (with a lid)<br />
· Paint brush<br />
· Spray-mister<br />
step 1 | Moss can often be found growing in damp areas, between<br />
the cracks in paving stones, on drainpipe covers or near to a riverbank.<br />
Gather several clumps of moss.<br />
step 2 | Carefully clean the moss of as much mud as possible.<br />
step 3 | Place some of the moss, the buttermilk (or yoghurt) and<br />
sugar into a blender and start to mix. This must be done in small<br />
phases as the moss can easily get caught in the blades of blender.<br />
Keep blending until you have a green milkshake with the texture<br />
of a thick smoothie. Pour the mixture into a plastic container.<br />
step 4 | Paint your chosen design onto a location with similar<br />
conditions to where you originally found it (eg a brick wall or river<br />
bank). If you have difficulty finding the right climate in which to<br />
grow your moss, grow it indoors on top of a flattened layer of<br />
compost in a seed tray (where it can be frequently spray-misted<br />
with water) and transplant it outdoors as soon as it has begun to<br />
grow.<br />
Step 5 | Ensure that your moss design is kept moist by spraymisting<br />
it with water regularly. After a few weeks the moss should<br />
start to re-constitute and grow.<br />
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MUD<br />
STENCIL<br />
Jesse Grave<br />
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I began using mud as my stencil medium to solve the problem<br />
of how to create a stencil without using spray paint.<br />
Spray paint is very toxic and can cause brain damage if<br />
frequently ingested. It is also difficult to remove from buildings.<br />
I have no interest in creating art that damages property<br />
or is unwanted. If someone does not like my stencils<br />
they can easily wash them off. I also ask businesses owners<br />
before I put a stencil on their property. By receiving property<br />
owners consent a street artist can created work that is<br />
wanted, and stays up longer.<br />
Free Statement:<br />
Free can mean a lot of things.<br />
Hopefully this stencil means something to you. To me this piece is about how great it is<br />
to ride a bike. For myself commutating via bicycle means I am free from oil and free from<br />
the confidents of an auto. Sadly while biking in a city I am not free from rude motorists,<br />
and the exhaust autos spew.<br />
Beat Statement:<br />
To me, Industrial farming means agriculture on a large scale that typically includes the<br />
use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified foods, erosion, soil degradation,<br />
and a general apathy to food quality, environments, and health. Industrial farming is<br />
happening worldwide, it is limiting crop variety, traditional farming methods, and the<br />
health of animals and environments. This mud stencil is a call to action. Beat back industrial<br />
farming by supporting small sustainable farms.<br />
Oil Statement:<br />
Why do people drink bottled water when perfectly potable, perfectly healthy tap water<br />
is readily available? In places without clean drinking water, bottled water makes perfect<br />
scene; everywhere else, it does not. It takes massive amounts of oil to make the plastic<br />
and packaging for bottled water, and even more oil to transport them. More oil is used<br />
to recycle the plastic, unless the used bottles are filling up landfills instead. Reusing the<br />
bottles is also a bad idea because they may leach carcinogens. Stainless steel, aluminum<br />
or glass water bottles work great. It is my firm belief that plastic is bad. Lets avoid it<br />
when we can.<br />
Grow Statement:<br />
The meaning of this piece is dependent on its location. I have posted it on both abandoned<br />
buildings and places I enjoy or find inspiring. Photographed with a child next to<br />
it makes a statement about the child's potential and the kind of person they will grow to<br />
become. Photographed on a building with flowers around it makes a statement about<br />
growing a garden.<br />
Share Statement:<br />
This stencil was actually commissioned by UW Milwaukee's union. Slightly modified the<br />
"Share The Earth" logo to make it a stencil. Then posted it in mid April to advertise for<br />
earth week-a week of events at UWM to celebrate earth day.<br />
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TEXTS ON REACT | 37
REVERSE<br />
GRAFFITTI<br />
Alexandre Orion<br />
In the environmental movement, every time you lose a battle it’s for good, but our victories<br />
always seem to be temporary and we keep fighting them over and over again.”<br />
David Suzuki.<br />
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SKULLS IN SAO PAOLO<br />
Welcome to the world of reverse graffiti, where the artist’s<br />
weapons are cleaning materials and where the enemy is the<br />
elements: wind, rain, pollution and decay. It’s an art form<br />
that removes dust or dirt rather than adding paint. Some<br />
find it intriguing, beguiling, beautiful and imaginative, whereas<br />
others look upon it in much the same way as traditional<br />
graffiti – a complete lack of respect for the law. Reverse<br />
graffiti challenges ideals and perceptions while at the same<br />
time shapes and changes the environment in which we live,<br />
whether people think for the better, or not.<br />
Etching skulls on the side of the tunnel with nothing but water and a cloth.<br />
Hailing from Brazil, Alexandre sees his art work as a way of getting an environmental<br />
message across to those who ordinarily wouldn’t listen. A few years ago he adorned a<br />
transport tunnel in Sao Paolo with a mural consisting of a series of skulls to remind drivers<br />
of the detrimental impact their emissions have on the planet. The Brazilian authorities<br />
were incensed but couldn’t actually charge him with anything so they instead cleaned<br />
the tunnel. At first the cleaned only the parts Alexandre had cleared but after the<br />
artist switched to the opposite wall they had to clean that too. In the end, the authorities<br />
decided to wash every tunnel in the city, missing the irony completely, it seems.<br />
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TEXTS ON REACT | 41
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GRAFFITI &STREET ART<br />
EXTRA MULTIMEDIA CONTENT<br />
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GRAFFITI RESEARCH LAB<br />
Fresh out of graduate school and unhappy doing web design work in order to pay back<br />
student loans I applied for a fellowship position at the Eyebeam OpenLab, a non-profit<br />
art and technology research and development lab in Manhattan. The application asked<br />
for two work samples and a series of questions related to creativity and open source.<br />
I applied with Graffiti Analysis and Explicit Content Only, and based on the strength of<br />
graffiti and curse words, I was asked to join an elite group with three other hacker types<br />
with backgrounds ranging from NASA to MIT. The position came with a small but livable<br />
salary and health insurance, and allowed me to focus solely on my work for what ended<br />
up being a period of two years. Admittedly feeling like the wild card choice amongst the<br />
group, I quit my job and continued doing projects related to graffiti, open source, and<br />
popular culture. After 4 or 5 months I started collaborating with an ex-robotics contractor<br />
for NASA named James Powderly. James was an engineer with a tendency towards<br />
deviance and when he saw that I was using technology to create graffiti tools for the<br />
modern vandal, he quickly dropped everything and lent his engineering, hardware, and<br />
materials expertise.<br />
We made a good team and quickly came up with a simple way to combine an LED, a<br />
magnet, and a small battery into a new self illuminating medium for graffiti artists. The<br />
LED Throwie was our first big collaborative hit and it was shortly after the development<br />
of this device that we donned the name Graffiti Research Lab and decided to continue<br />
this strain of research as a team. Early on we decided the G.R.L. would have two main<br />
goals: 1) to produce and release cheap, easy, and functional tools for urban communication,<br />
and 2) to use graffiti as a medium to spread open source ideals into popular culture.<br />
All G.R.L. projects are released for free with detailed HOW TO guides and source code so<br />
that people can implement them on their own and for their own purposes.<br />
In an effort to try and trump the success of Throwies we joined forces with British artist,<br />
friend, and programmer Theo Watson to create Laser Tag, a system that allows writers<br />
to draw at a very large scale onto buildings in light using a small pen sized laser. It is to<br />
date our most widely utilized project, with activist groups, graffiti writers, and nerds putting<br />
it to various uses in cities as far as Singapore and as close as Rochester.<br />
With the wide spread adoption of the Laser Tag project we decided that we should open<br />
up the Graffiti Research Lab in the same way in which we had released Laser Tag and<br />
LED Throwies. When Esquire magazine approached us in 2007 and offered us 2 pages to<br />
do whatever we wanted, we decided that we should use the opportunity to invite everyone<br />
to take part in this project. In essence our goal was to treat G.R.L. similar to any<br />
other open source project; to make G.R.L. more like Linux.<br />
Today James and I continue to collaborate heavily and create new tools for graffiti but<br />
we are joined by a loose unguided network of hackers and vandals from all over the<br />
world. At times they work with us to create projects together, and other times they<br />
release work completely independently and with little contact. G.R.L. is the largest open<br />
source initiative that I have ever been a part of, and it's existence and functionality is a<br />
meta experiment above and beyond the individual projects and technologies it creates.<br />
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WK INTERACT<br />
WK INTERACT at Stereograph<br />
QUESTIONS FOR WK<br />
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Age? 39<br />
Location? New York<br />
Artistic education? Beaux art.<br />
How would you describe WK?<br />
Double kind, extremes, black and white, fundamental motion.<br />
What was the interest in art and what lead you to street art?<br />
I have been painting and drawing since I can remember and eventually the streets most<br />
naturally became the fora to convey my thoughts.<br />
What came first for you, your desire to be an artist, or your knowledge of the materials<br />
you work with?<br />
It is can only be described as a symbiotic relationship between an artist and his media.<br />
They evolve together, not separately.<br />
The latest street art movement has come to see you as one of the pioneers. As one of<br />
the first in the current art movement where would you draw inspiration?<br />
Everywhere, from exorcising my personal demons to addressing my conscience,<br />
although when I was younger I was focused more on the visual beauty ofmotion, and the<br />
portrayal of movement on a grand scale.<br />
How much of your work is politically based?<br />
I don’t really think of percentages of the political, I just express what I am thinking at that<br />
particular time, it may be about human suffering or anguish or about creating a beautiful<br />
form in motion but now the public seems to read controversy in everything I do…. It may<br />
be more their response to a current global situation than to a topic of my own choosing,<br />
their consciences reading into subtleties in my work or just a misinterpretation all together.<br />
What does your work offer our society?<br />
To think.<br />
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Do you feel the work you are doing is something that should be preserved?<br />
Once I put a piece on the street, I believe in letting nature take its course, I have no control<br />
over what happens.<br />
Can you describe the street scene of the early 90s and your work in those days?<br />
New York was dirtier then and I liked it like that. There was more space and freedom to<br />
place pieces, and of course I was one of a handful of artists doing this sort of thing. I<br />
think maybe the difference is that we were doing what we did for various socialist reasons<br />
and with the conviction that we were sort of outcasts who were satisfied with the<br />
street as our connection to the people. The difference now is that a lot of the new people<br />
use the street for the sole purpose to get into galleries and museums, and in that context<br />
they have managed to commercialize something, which was deeply anti-establishment.<br />
If not streetart, then what?<br />
Probably humanitarian/ volunteer work or mercenary for hire.<br />
Do you have any famous last words?<br />
Hope I can wait to answer that quite a few decades from now.<br />
What, if anything, do you consistently draw inspiration from?<br />
The motion and emotion created by the human form.<br />
What materials do you normally work with?<br />
Paint, paper, glue, wood, metal, screen prints, stencil and found objects.<br />
If you had to explain your work to a stranger, how would you do it?<br />
I’ll leave it to him to interpret.<br />
When are you the most productive?<br />
During the winter and darker months I can work 24 hours, no problem.<br />
Favorite trip?<br />
The next one.<br />
Music?<br />
Too many.<br />
What were you like in high school?<br />
A dark clown and a troublemaker, and a bit of a fighter.<br />
Where did you spend your childhood and what was your upbringing like?<br />
I was born in Caen, Normandy but my family moved south to St. Paul de Vence before I<br />
was a year old so I tend to identify more with the south. My parents were both artists and<br />
hard workers, a discipline the reallyindoctrinated in my brother and me. We physically<br />
worked hand in hand with them to build our house there. So hard work was definitely a<br />
focus for us.<br />
How much other street work are you doing these days?<br />
Just put up some stuff in London a few weeks ago.<br />
Can you explain to me a little about your GEAR project?<br />
That project was devised in order to be able to apply my work on the street in plain sight<br />
without attracting too much suspicion. It is an urban camouflage meant to blend me in<br />
with the garbage or newspaper delivery guys or the homeless.<br />
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JORGE<br />
RODRIGUEZ<br />
GERADA<br />
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F. Javier Briongos Ibáñez<br />
For some time, Andy Warhol has conceded to us 15 minutes<br />
of fame. That being the case, the prerequisite was to<br />
have an accident, be poisoned…That tricky media worthy<br />
relevance would not spare Marilyn, Elvis or Mao. Their faces<br />
were sufficiently important to be worthy of being remembered,<br />
reworked and converted into a treasured object or icon<br />
for posterity. Why is one life more important than another?<br />
Most Importantly, who is interested that we think this way?<br />
Jorge Rodriguez Gerada started making art more that 15 years ago in New York City (he<br />
is a Cuban New Yorker, and that is not banal biographical information added to satisfy<br />
the curiosity of curators in search for the exotic or art professionals whose value scale is<br />
based on the passport).<br />
We are before one of the founders of the artistic direction known as “Culture Jamming”.<br />
But lets go to the artistic processes of the Identity series, one of the best examples of<br />
coherence in art in the last few years. Portraits in charcoal (gestures, sketches? – not in<br />
the least) people, until now anonymous, scale the walls of buildings in our cities, in a format<br />
that we can begin to describe as gigantic. Yes, they are gigantically defying, proud,<br />
dignified. More social than political, with the measure that the preoccupation for one<br />
ridicules the other.<br />
Jorge finds his protagonists in the street, in the neighborhood where they live, where<br />
they are from or decided to stay. That they be residents is important. They are not an<br />
object troubé. Thus begins the true dialog. Mutual understanding, the reasons and the<br />
explinations. Then comes the final decision, which belongs to the local resident, to allow<br />
the work to be completed. But let us not be mistaken, the art piece is not the charcoal<br />
drawing. The artistic process begins with the search for the city, the building, and most<br />
importantly the person (who is sufficiently valiant to allow being found). Decide to be<br />
converted into a hero (like those of modernity described and defended by Baudelaire)<br />
monumental; a Goliath confronting the powerful King Davids of politics and advertising<br />
in order to take back the public space, snatched from our hands by advertisers anxious<br />
to sell us perfect men and women, and politicians that against all the evidence want to<br />
convince us that they are perfect.<br />
Risk your own likeness, the gaze, the anonymous life, to reach a popularity that is not<br />
paid (this is not Big Brother, nor any of the other loathsome programs in which we hand<br />
over our miseries for money). And this entrusted to an artist. Let us not forget how many<br />
times artists have duped us and taken advantage of known imbeciles and the famous<br />
that are not worthy of being known (of course, later they say that it is a critique, or whatever<br />
allegation that they can find in the great Bible of aesthetics.<br />
What defines identity, that fragile and inconsistent –but necessary- sensation of being?<br />
Its search is one of the most arduous tasks in life. I would say especially for an artist and<br />
particularly for Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada (I wont repeat his pertinent biographical information).<br />
His achievements, his coherence and the grandeur of the humanity in his work,<br />
place him among the best artists of our generation. Fortunately, utilizing words which<br />
are not my own, but that I cannot resist using (I am sure that the person who wrote them<br />
will forgive me), his “Identities occupy the canvas of our cities, populating them with the<br />
marvelous residual essence of it people”.<br />
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WOOSTER<br />
ON SPRING<br />
THE COUNTDOWN<br />
BEGINS<br />
December 9, 2006<br />
The outside walls of 11 Spring St. have been a public canvas<br />
for local and visiting street artists for two decades. Recently<br />
the building was purchased by developers Caroline Cummings<br />
and Bill Elias who will be turning the space into condos.<br />
Realizing they had purchased a public gallery, and also<br />
because they admired the constantly changing walls, they<br />
wanted to give the work a final farewell.<br />
Collaborating with Marc and Sara Schiller who are long time<br />
street art documentarians and run the website woostercollective.com,<br />
they invited street artisits from all over the<br />
world to come and participate in a sort of final salute to the<br />
street art of 11 Spring. The three day open house attracted a<br />
huge crowd with people waiting in lines that snaked around<br />
the block for up to five hours just to get in the door. The<br />
doors are now closed to the public, and the renovations will<br />
begin on the soon to be luxury condominiums.<br />
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As many of you now know, Wooster on Spring, the exhibition we have been working on<br />
with Elias Cummings, the new owners of 11 Spring Street, will open in Lower Manhattan in<br />
less then one week.<br />
The exhibition, a three celebration of 30 years of ephemeral art, will take place for three<br />
days only, and then all of the artwork will be destroyed.<br />
The artists who’s work will be showcased include Shepard Fairey, WK, Jace, Swoon, David<br />
Ellis, FAILE, Cycle, Lady Pink, London Police, Prune, JR, Speto, D*Face, JMR, Blek Le Rat,<br />
John Fekner, Bo and Microbo, Above, BAST, Momo, Howard Goldkrand, Borf, Gaetane<br />
Michaux, Skewville, Michael DeFeo, Will Barras, Kelly Burns, Abe Lincoln, Jr, Thubdercut,<br />
Judith Supine, Rekal, Maya Hayuk, Anthony Lister, Stikman, You Are Beautiful, Gore-B,<br />
Elboe-Toe, MCA, Jasmine Zimmerman, Plasma Slugs, Diego, RIPO, The Graffiti Research<br />
Lab, Txtual Healing, Mark Jenkins, Dan Witz, Iminendisaster, Rene Gagnon, and many<br />
other surprise guests.<br />
Questions to woostercollective<br />
Will the building be open to the public to view the artwork inside?<br />
Yes. The current plan is to open the building for three days in mid--December as an open<br />
house with panel discussions, film screenings, djs, and private walk-throughs. Because of<br />
the logistics, we won't be publishing the exact days and times until just before the event.<br />
Who are some of the artists that are painting inside the building?<br />
Artists involved in the show include WK, Blek Le Rat, Shepard Fairey, JACE, Bo and Microbo,<br />
D*Face, Maya Hayuk, Lister, Prune, JR, RIPO, Thundercut, Skewville, Elboe-Toe, Jasmine<br />
Zimmerman, You Are Beautiful, Dan Witz, Judith Supine, Above, Rekal, Gore-B, FAILE,<br />
The London Police, Rene Gagnon, Gaetane Michaux, Darkclouds... and many, many other<br />
surprise guests.<br />
3. Will the artwork stay up in the building and outside after the event?<br />
No. In December and January, the new owners of the building will begin restoration and<br />
construction and all of the artwork will be destroyed. The only chance to see it will be<br />
during the three day event in December.<br />
Are you (Wooster) and the artists working with the new owners of the building on this<br />
project?<br />
Yes. A few weeks ago Sara and I met with Caroline Cummings, one of the new owners of<br />
11 Spring. Caroline, who is a major supporter of the arts, wanted to let us know that she<br />
and her partners understood the rich history that the building has had, and they wanted<br />
to do something that celebrated the role the building has had in the neighborhood and<br />
with artists from all over the world. Sara and I suggested curating an art event in the building<br />
before construction began. Caroline and her partners agreed and the project began.<br />
Projects like this happen from time to time in Europe, but rarely in the United States, and<br />
never in the middle of one of the best neighborhoods in Manhattan.<br />
Can anyone paint inside the building?<br />
No, unfortunately not. All of the artwork inside the building is being organized and curated<br />
by the Wooster Collective. While we're adding new artists to the project each day,<br />
everyone involved has been part of the Wooster site over the last five years. Unfortunately,<br />
it's impossible to include all of the artists who we would like, but we're doing the best<br />
that we can. As we juggle space and access to the building, artists are being invited each<br />
day up until the actual event.<br />
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CHAPTER III<br />
POLITICAL ART<br />
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SHEPARD<br />
FAIREY<br />
"I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I<br />
thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify<br />
the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide<br />
this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I<br />
should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young<br />
daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several<br />
years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from<br />
the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience<br />
of young art fans and I'm delighted if I can encourage<br />
them to see the merits of Barack Obama."<br />
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CRAIG FOSTER<br />
Craig Foster in 2002 started creating a piece a day based on impressions from the news and it grew<br />
into an art blog of sorts with about 2000 images. The pieces intentionally add light relief to the political<br />
message conveyed. More importantly the work is an indictment of the direction that the United<br />
States is being taken and the ready acceptance of war and the notion that military intervention is<br />
an effective means of diplomacy between America and the rest of the world. Craig Foster has been<br />
an artist since the late 80's when at the beginning of the first Gulf War he began making protest art,<br />
never considering that the work would be relevant in the new millennium.<br />
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GORILLA<br />
Since October 2006 we have made a visual column on the<br />
front page of De Volkskrant, one of Holland's leading newspapers.<br />
With Lesley Moore and Herman van Bostelen we<br />
form the collective 'Gorilla'. We respond to the day's news<br />
in words and images. This gives us a wonderful opportunity<br />
to ventilate our views on politics, the environment and all<br />
those subjects ones worries about, but doesn't know how to<br />
react. Gorilla won an ADCN lamp, a European Design Award<br />
and a Reddot Design award in 2007<br />
gorilla-clusterbom<br />
The Netherlands is removing the clusterbomb from it’s<br />
arsenal/ 29.05.08<br />
According to a new international treaty, one that has not<br />
been signed by the US, the Netherlands is also removing<br />
the cluster bomb from its arsenal.<br />
gorilla-eu ierland<br />
Ireland says ‘no’ to E.U. treaty/ 16.06.08<br />
makes it clear that the EU is only as strong as its weakest<br />
link.<br />
gorilla-birma junta<br />
Birma Junta/ 27.05.08<br />
Aid organisations barred from Burma<br />
gorilla- bejing<br />
Olympic Peace/ 08.04.08<br />
IOC wants ‘peaceful solution’ in Tibet.<br />
gorilla-free tibet<br />
Free Trade Free Tibet/ 12.04.08<br />
Dutch provincial and municipal administrators travel en<br />
masse to China.<br />
gorilla-thumbs up for mugabe<br />
Election day in Zimbabwe/ 27.06.08<br />
Thugs can tell from ink on the thumb whether or not<br />
people have voted in the Zimbabwe election.<br />
gorilla-mugabe<br />
Mugabe hits opposition with violence/ 25.06.08<br />
According to the international community, Mugabe is no<br />
longer the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe. He is using<br />
brute force and intimidation to wrest an election victory.<br />
gorilla-dieselprijs<br />
Protest against the high price of diesel/ 12.06.08<br />
Protests all over Europe against the high price of diesel<br />
gorilla-we are the world<br />
Bush/Putin era is almost over/ 05.04.08<br />
Meeting between two departing world leaders.<br />
gorilla-hillary level<br />
Hillary’s Clinton’s cashbox is empty/ 08.05.08<br />
After Hillary Clinton’s call for a petrol tax holiday it is<br />
clear that the cashbox is empty, the mood desperate.<br />
POLITICAL ART | 85
TEXTS ON REACT | 86
POLITICAL ART | 87
TEXTS ON REACT | 88
TEXTS ON REACT | 89
TEXTS ON REACT | 90
TEXTS ON REACT | 91
TEXTS ON REACT | 92
TEXTS ON REACT | 93
MAPPING YOUR REALITY | 94
CHAPTER V<br />
MAPPING YOUR REALITY<br />
MAPPING YOUR REALITY | 95
MAP OF<br />
TERRORISM<br />
Heath Bunting<br />
Why make a map of terrorism ?<br />
It is unclear to many people exactly what terrorism is and which activities are now unsafe<br />
in the United Kingdom (UK) in terms of getting into trouble with the police. Making a map<br />
is often a prelude to colonisation and control. I have recently been under investigation and<br />
detention by the UK police for terrorism related offences. This case was fabricated by the<br />
Sussex police force, probably an attempt to frighten and probe me. My response to this,<br />
instead of seeking public sympathy and support, was to consolidate my existing links with<br />
national cultural institutions. Hence my proposal to make this map of terrorism, in context<br />
of an invitation for a new commission for Tate. I am still under state surveillance, but no<br />
longer under Her Majesty's detention.<br />
How to make a map of terrorism.<br />
My intention for this map was to find the borderline between 'the everyday', embodied<br />
by the 'high street' and the global terror fantastic. If goods and services are extended to<br />
people globally, we can expect feedback in return. If these goods and services are marketed<br />
by force, as for example in Iraq, then we can expect a violent customer feedback.<br />
Important words to consider for mapping terrorism and the market are both reach and<br />
crossover. I have been thinking that perhaps our asymmetric reach has extended too far<br />
and that the crossover of unequal cultures has gone too deep. Only the criminally ignorant<br />
can act surprised when second generation immigrants become upset when their<br />
adopted national state starts to illegally bomb their grandparents back home. Perhaps<br />
terrorism has always been a violent response to inappropriate intimacy, similar to bullying.<br />
What a map of terrorism can tell us.<br />
This map is only a sketch, part of a long term project to map the System. What it shows<br />
me at this stage though, is that the border between the High Street and global terror runs<br />
through the Irish Troubles. Also, that the no man's land of global terrorism is terrorism<br />
merchandise: Hamas t-shirts purchasable on-line (it is illegal to wear one of these in public),<br />
anarchist cookbook available at public libraries (recent events show that it is illegal<br />
to be in possession of one of these if Muslim). There also seems to be a fast-track route to<br />
full system integration, linked via 'able to provide current postal address': first step being<br />
a HM prisoner. In my research into identity, it has become apparent that institutionalisation<br />
comes first to those who challenge convention.<br />
MAPPING YOUR REALITY | 96
AZ TERRORIST<br />
MAP OF TERRORISM<br />
download pdf<br />
MAPPING YOUR REALITY | 97
URBAN TYPOS | 98
CHAPTER VI<br />
URBAN TYPOS<br />
URBAN TYPOS | 99
PIXAÇÃO<br />
by Choque<br />
Emerging in the 1980s in São Paulo, pixação quickly became<br />
one of the most aggressive and controversial forms of expression<br />
to date, turning its artists, the pixadores, into one<br />
of the most marginalized social groups in the city.<br />
Constantly in search of adrenaline, social resistance and recognition, the pixadores enter<br />
the city center from the outskirts in order to assert their existence through bold nocturnal<br />
actions – nightly escapes from the social exclusion that weighs on their daily lives.<br />
Seeing as pixação declares itself as a visual challenge against elite aesthetics and also<br />
stands as a clear reflection of the city’s conflicted social context, the main objective of<br />
this photo essay is to question the social structures that drive a generation of youth to<br />
feel that their only creative outlet lies in the degradation of the urban landscape.<br />
URBAN TYPOS | 100
TEXTS ON REACT | 101
TEXTS ON REACT | 102
URBAN TYPOS | 103
WHAT IS PIXAÇÃO?<br />
Pichação is an act of transgression, a way of getting people´s attention by the fact that<br />
it normally uses non-conventional and non-authorized surfaces. It has no rules concerning<br />
form or content, although it may occur sometimes when a specific mark can be seen<br />
spread out the city as a stamp.<br />
The drawings and illustrations tend to be very simple, used almost as symbols. The messages<br />
do not get colorful, they are monochromed most of the times and the surfaces<br />
chosen are never authorized. On the contrary, they are always taken by surprise. Unlike<br />
graffiti, which has a clear preference for rough surfaces, pichação uses already used surfaces<br />
or places taken by another pichação.<br />
As a result, pichação makes use of the most varied surfaces as possible which include<br />
tops of buildings, monuments, museums and public spaces with cultural or hystoric values.<br />
Avoiding any kind of apology for pichação, it is important to see this phenomenon in a<br />
very impartial way. Despite being an illegal activity, it is an independent movement that<br />
leads everyone to a higher level of consciousness and criticism for the writer himself gives<br />
a city a new face by proposing a new meaning for it.<br />
URBAN TYPOS | 104
PIXO ATTACK AT CHOQUE<br />
CULTURAL GALLERY<br />
URBAN TYPOS | 105
URBAN TYPOS | 106
URBAN TYPOS | 107
ACTIVISM | 108
CHAPTER VII<br />
ACTIVISM<br />
ACTIVISM | 109
T.S.A.<br />
COMMUNICATION<br />
Evan Roth<br />
T.S.A. Communication is a project that alters the airport<br />
security experience and allows the government to learn<br />
more about you then just what's in your backpack. Thin 8.5<br />
x 11 inch laser-cut sheets of stainless steel comfortably fit in<br />
your carry on bag, simultaneously obscuring the contents<br />
you don't want the TSA to see while highlighting ideas you<br />
do want them to see. Change your role as air traveler from<br />
passive to active.<br />
ACTIVISM | 110
ACTIVISM | 111
ACTIVISM | 112
ACTIVISM | 113
ARTIVISM | 114
CHAPTER VIII<br />
ARTIVISM<br />
ARTIVISM | 115
TINKIN<br />
ARTIVISM | 116
ARTIVISM | 117
ARTIVISM | 118
ARTIVISM | 119
DAN TAGUE<br />
ARTIVISM | 120
CASH RULES<br />
EVERYTHING<br />
AROUND ME<br />
The appeal and power of money are the issues at the core<br />
of this series. In a capitalist society cash rules everything.<br />
Society teaches us that you can buy love, happiness, and<br />
status through possessions. You can even right wrongs by<br />
taking away a bit of someone’s happiness through fines and<br />
lawsuits. Politicians buy votes through claims of lowering<br />
taxes, in other words letting us hold on to a little more of<br />
status… upper, lower, upper-lower class. Income tax, sales<br />
tax, and property tax all fund the war on terror, war on<br />
drugs, war on poverty, war on morality, etcetera. In fact, our<br />
consumer pursuit of happiness is the cause and solution for<br />
all of these wars.<br />
So in order to convey the allure of cash, I relied on the aesthetic qualities of the bills. Detailed<br />
decorative engravings, masterful portraits and architectural renderings, and elegant<br />
fonts create a decadent allure. I further the effect with folds and twists to abstract the<br />
imagery and create a collage of wonderful images.<br />
Folding the bills has another purpose to create narrative. The folds are precise and calculated<br />
in order to convey messages amidst the appeal of the abstracted imagery. The<br />
messages are political in nature ranging from local issues directed at rebuilding New<br />
Orleans with phrases like Unite NOLA and Home is a Tent. The proceeds of this photograph<br />
go to UNITY of Greater New Orleans to help out with the homeless crisis in our city.<br />
Other messages relate issues of terror and war with State of Fear and Hunt for Oil. While<br />
others deal with religion, God is American, and politicians, Trust No One. Then there is the<br />
ultimate praise of money in a capitalist world as The American Idol.<br />
ARTIVISM | 121
ARTIVISM | 122
ARTIVISM | 123
TEXTS ON REACT | 124
TEXTS ON REACT | 125
HACKTIVISM | 126
CHAPTER IX<br />
HACKTIVISM<br />
HACKTIVISM | 127
SKULLPHONE<br />
Flossy at Gawker.com<br />
I’m guessing Foucault would probably float idea that the<br />
overwhelming domination of urban public visual space by<br />
the capitalist-propagandistic imagery of private commercial<br />
interests (or in non-douchebag terms: advertisements) is a<br />
concrete manifestation of the concept of socio-disciplinary<br />
architecture, which of course he explored in detail in Discipline<br />
& Punish (the Panopticon, etc.)<br />
Even in the beginning, graffiti culture has always been at least partly about advertisement--what<br />
were the first tags if not ads for the artists? Following this logic, even buying<br />
ad space for your own artwork could be construed as somewhat transgressive--granted,<br />
it’s not quite the same as tagging a subway car--or at the very least a noteworthy individual<br />
intervention into the mechanics of a largely impersonal contemporary visual landscape.<br />
Skullphone isn’t really “selling out;” after all, he isn’t selling anything except himself<br />
and his art (at least as far as I know). Do the law-abiding means of legally getting your art<br />
up nullify any transgression inherent in the intent? Who can say?! Advertising-as-art! Text<br />
message conceptualism! Where’s my limited-edition avant-garde T-shirt?! The Ecstasy of<br />
Communication! Do robots scream Bau-oh-oh-oh-oh-audrillard! when they fuck?!<br />
Parents, don’t let your children become barely-employed former art history majors.<br />
HACKTIVISM | 128
HACKTIVISM | 129
HACKTIVISM | 130
HACKTIVISM | 131
TEXTS ON REACT | 132
TEXTS ON REACT | 133
Stereograph is conceived as a magazine<br />
about graphic design and visual<br />
communication with a thematic<br />
approach to information rather than a<br />
merely cumulative treatment; in other<br />
words, the intention is for each issue<br />
to be devoted to a specific theme,<br />
which will be developed in a range of<br />
materials and formats: graphic projects,<br />
articles, essays and so on. The<br />
idea is to translate the concept we<br />
pioneered with Verb, our architecture<br />
magazine, to the world of graphics.<br />
This model of book-magazine has<br />
worked very well in the field of architecture,<br />
both as a tool with which we<br />
can research and experiment, and in<br />
terms of the commercial success it<br />
has achieved.<br />
“Qr codes are included with extra information<br />
in the website take a photo<br />
with your iphone and try it”