Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access, ali shah, bourgeois public sphere, carpet weaving, carpets, classism, danah boyd, india, intellectual property, internet, kashmir, labour, property is theft, proudhon, public art, social media, srinagar, street art
To be honest, I really just wanted to recycle Critical Culture’s amazing take on Proudhon, in which ze ” wanted the back of my iPod to read, “intellectual property is theft” (Proudhorn [sic], motherfucker!), but Apple denied my request”. That got me thinking again about intellectual property though – like the fact I thought about just snatching that rather delectable phrase, but wouldn’t have felt right doing so, and so linked to the blog. Does the same thing apply then, with the internet as with academia? You’d think that on the internet, intentions are rather more mercenery, with the whole maximising traffic/linkbacks/ad revenue bit. But then doesn’t the same happen in academia with citations, and a scholar even being judged by how often and widely their works are cited? I suspect it all plays back on itself in social media (I’m thinking of LinkedIn, but there’s probably scores more that are more industry specific)?
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: advertising, art, brand recognition, chanel, consumerism, corporate imperialism, culture jamming, globalisation, graveyard, idol worship, intervention, just seeds, laura keeble, logos, macdeath, macdonalds, nike, public art, sculpture, street art, tombstones, traces, ZEVS
Another globalisation is possible? Probably not. This however is North Road Cemetary, in Southend, England, and it just might be where the phenomenon goes to die. Or rather three of its MNC markers – Macdonalds, Nike, and perhaps unusually, Chanel. The artist in question, Laura Keeble, based the project on “theory of magical thinking, looking at belief systems and idol worship”. She says that it plays with the viewers perception, hopefully creating a pause for thought. I can certainly think of people who indeed positively worship at the altar of the now iconic interlinked Cs, but Macdonalds? It’s nice that it can be read in so many ways though.
| When I see it I for example tend to immedately think of corporate imperialism and globalisation, as opposed to maybe aspirational-luxe goods. The markers are at the same time a jolting reminder of just how far brand recognition has permeated into our collective cultural consciousness. These symbols are obviously among the most recognisable, but you’d probably be surprised as to just how many others you recognise – take the corporate logo-d flag, for example. |  |
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anarchism, anthropology, ☭☭☭, bent jbeil, billboard, gaza, gaza massacre, hassan nasrallah, islamic university, israel, mark seager, palestine, public art, street art, taxis
According to JustSeeds, this sick piece ” appeared yesterday in the South Bronx. The wall faces the Bruckner Expressway, a highly used elevated highway passing through the Bronx”. It got me wondering about graffiti in Gaza itself, and I came across Mark Seager’s amazing photographs. He says that these photos were taken during visits in 2001 at the beginning of the Intifada, and again in 2003 circa the Iraqi invasion. They’re almost all the more precious in that these walls are most likely bombed and decimated by now, with their images erased forever – unlike images buffed away on city orders, that still leaveghostly outlines.
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anarchism, art, ☭☭☭, crimethinc, other, palace of the people, public art, romania, street art, trains, troy lovegates
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Canadian street artist Other, aka Troy Lovegates has a new solo exhibition up at SF gallery / zinehome / seemingly all around rad spaceNeedles and Pens. You can see the pictures from the show here. And though I like the work on wood and its solidified cardboard cut out raised off the walls feel, I’m most drawn to his other work and its ridic use of colour and suface, especially on trains and murals. |
I dislike that Crimethinc has so permeated that I immediately associate freight train hopping with them along with indulgent dropout-yet-be-a-capitalistic-parasite and mountains of stale bagels. To me it feels more like a subculture than a social movement, kind of like playing a video game revolution. Not to rehash the perhaps tired body of Crimethinc criticism (and indeed there’s a lot that could be learned from their media machine), but I do rather like Anarkismo’s “Rethinking Crimethinc”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: art, cars, credit crisis, eggs, global warming, henk hofstra, netherlands, public art, urban river
On the 23rd of October, Dutch artist Henk Hofstra created a 20 car pileup in the middle of Rotterdam’s Ahoy Square, to symbolise the worldwide credit crisis. Nineteen of these cars are painted red – for in-the-red ledgered debt , with the sole blue car symbolising the few that are still ding okay. Pretty amazing right? And this isn’t the first time he’s used painted cars – take a dekko at his kilometre-long blue road/ urban river from last April. Eight metres wide, the Het Moleneind road in Drachten, Holland, was painted blue to form an urban river (with the text ‘WATER IST LEVEN”) in the place of a waterway that used to run there. This year they will start digging a new canal there. The goal was to get it on Google Earth; not sure if that was achieved. [via wooster]
MORE: environmentalism, sunny side up?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: art, capitalist casualties, cities, consumerism, d*face, macdeath, public art, street art, surveillance society, tattoos
Street improvements of the best kind? This is from D*Face in London, an artist who seems to tread the line between street art and commercial graphic design. I wonder if one always comes before the other? Some of his work is really sick though:
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: art, china, inversion, li wei, performance art, public art
These images from Chinese performance artist Li Wei are pretty sick. According to the aesthetic poetic, it’s all mirrors, metal wires and scaffolding to create these illusions. Maybe it’s unfortunate that in pictures, they could pass as being photoshopped; I’d love to see this in person. Someday?
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: balloons, brooklyn, cartoons, electrical tape, nyc, onomatopoeia, public art, street art
I’ve never seen anything like this before – onomatopoeic street art, and made with balloons? Presumably with added pop!s or maybe whizzzzes at the demise of the balloon. From Brooklyn based artist DBILLY. This seems to be the first work he’s done with balloons, but theres some sweet illustration based stuff. And something else I’ve never seen – though it’s probably been done before – words made with electrical tape. Interesting in that it looks photoshopped, but isn’t; I’d love to see this from afar.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anamorphic art, art, billboard, caetano ferrer, korea, optical illusion, public art, seoul, street art, tracy lee stum, trees, trompe l'oeil
| Maybe trompe l’œil isn’t the right term for these kind of mindbending visuals – optical illusions? They’re still pretty fascinating all the same, especially the 3D anamophic pieces by artist Tracy Lee Stum. Who doesn’t love silly jump poses? If you think about it though, almsot everyone who passes through the spot for a picture must make the same, or similar leaps in in the air.
At that, each piece of public art probably develops an associated collective pose. Like someone struggling under the presumable weight of Noguchi’s Red Cube in Manhattan’s Financial District. Or holler-riding the Wall Street Bull, for example. I guess it’s not a bad thing. |
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Filed under: america | Tags: ballet, fireworks, july 4, kim gordon, public art, sonic youth, swan lake, the feelies, thurston moore
 [photo by Davey Wilson] |
 [photo by Ryan Muir] |
 [photo by cverwall] |
I wasn’t actually madly impressed by the NYC fireworks on the Fourth of July. Maybe they would have been better from a different viewing point – we were aiming for the South Street Seaport, but ended up in a bit of a dead end on Pier 36 when they started. Apparently they’re the largest display of fireworks in the world, when all four concurrent segments are put together. That’s an interesting label – maybe attached because one centralised city authority covers the firework display for the entire city?
As opposed to maybe Dubai where almost each hotel will have ridiculous displays on New Year’s Eve (not so much the 4th July..). A friend from Hong Kong mentions a similar effect. Overall the display is far larger, but I suppose they’re technically many smaller displays happening at the same time. Not so technically, I suspect there’s a good deal of American-centrism and pride in this statement too. |
MORE: SONIC YOUTH AND FIREWORKS AS THE MOST ACCESSIBLE FORM OF PUBLIC ART
