Thesisdraft

A Ministry of Mischief Shaking the Habitual In the City Space

By Derek Ercolano

index

Section One - introduction

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Section Two - analysis

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Section Three - strategy

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Section Four - Inspiration

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Section Five - visual process

(Completed next semester)

Section Six - reflections

(Completed next semester)

Section One

1.1 Introduction I cannot express adequately in words how enthralling my first trips alone to Manhattan were. Though I had lived within a stones throw of the city my entire life, there was something special about finally being able to take the trip in, with my own agenda and explore. Each weekend, during my junior year of high school, I would take the train in on Saturday afternoons and take a life drawing course in midtown at School of Visual Arts. Ironically, I felt my real education was coming from the trips I took exploring the city, after the class had ended. My explorations ranged from simple trips to try new cuisine, to riding different subway lines back and forth, to see what was existed at the end of the line. It was during these years, that the visual tourist in me really blossomed, and my desire for adventure in my city was unquenchable. Most of all I was astonished by how each neighborhood, had it’s own visual palette and identity, while maintaining the essential New York characteristics. The Lower East Side’s fashionable grime, Coney Island’s nostalgic exuberance, Williamsburg’s bohemian appeal tended to the growing fire of my creative spirit.

The thing that touched me the most during these trips was the interplay between mainstream advertising, and more subversive forms of communication (i.e. provocative phrases written on a walls, tagging of buildings , posters that have been defaced in a humorous way, stickers, wheat pastes).

These brands of communication formed a visual vernacular that was really unique to the identity of New York. I feel that these subversive visuals in particular really added to my experience traversing the city, because they managed to be more exciting, clever, and aware of the environmental context then multimillion dollar campaigns that adorned the big billboards, street corners and large LED screens. They made me contemplative of my environment, created new connotations and contexts for me to view parts of the city.

Years later, after returning from design school in upstate New York I found myself living in Brooklyn and working in Manhattan. I was getting to relive my younger adventures in a new context and in my opinion there was no better scenario.

However, after a few months, my new routine set in, my schedule filled up with work meetings, deadlines and late nights. Gradually, I became less aware of the things that had enchanted my earlier trips, and my journey from place to

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place went from a curious stroll to an ignorant rush. It wasn’t till one particularly evening in late November that I became conscious about my actions. As I walked out of the subway, heading for my apartment door I caught a glimpse of a neon blue streak of paint that covered up a rather large accumulation of posters on a wall. As I turned to affirm my observation I noticed that someone had written in gigantic letters over all the posters “GET HER”. At once a smile creeped across my face, and the visual traveler in me came alive once again.

My thesis explores the potential visual communication has to create new connotations and experiences in the city space.

Cities in contrast to the suburbs or more rural locations are in my opinion navigated by humans beings in quite a different way. German Literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin likened navigating a city to the experience of watching a film in his concept of “Reception in distraction.” Much like a film, when navigating a city, we have to come to terms with the fact that things aren’t going to stay still, nor stay within a confined space.

Growing up in and around Manhattan I would relate sensory experience of the city to that of being in a crowded party where everyone is shouting above the music in order to be heard. Navigating cities involves coming to terms with the disorienting task of dealing with many types of sensory stimulus at once, honking horns, flashing lights, and scattered conversation all around us. Yet studies conducted by the UN predict by 2030 the percentage of people living in cities in Northern Europe will reach 87% and nearly 85% in North America. It’s glaringly clear that most of us aren’t really phased by this experience, in fact I think it’s safe to say that it isn’t a big deal by todays standards.

Benjamin’s model, accounts for how we navigate and experience architecture from an sensory point of view and we clearly do not rely solely of aesthetics as our compass to navigate city environments. The second half how we navigate cities is dependent on our agendas. We have things to accomplish, work to do, errands to run and friends to meet. From my research I have determined that we rely on aesthetic judgments (our taste) and our practical agendas in order to devise a hierarchal map in which we then use to navigate the city environment. I believe the combination of these robust palettes of sensory experience and our own agenda’s gradually cause us to become less aware of our journey’s from point A to B.

It is precisely that journey in between that I am interested in bringing to your attention in the project I am undertaking. Can this often disregarded grey area on our journeys throughout the city become a space of time where our curiosity can be stimulated? And if so what it be something that be met by people happily, or would it only continue to add to the madness of the city experience? I propose that in order to explore this grey area that visual communication be championed. A field which is no stranger to the art of seducing people. However, instead of enticing them to buy a product, that betters their city experience, or an app that provides a unique viewpoint of the city, I intend to promote a change in behavior. I want to reawaken the visual traveler in the jaded city goer and shake them back into that curious state of mind (if only momentarily) that brought them to the city in the first place.

Specifically, the aim of this project is to use a visual icon in tangent with subversive media forms (flyers,graffiti,wheat pastes,stickers)to create a surprising campaign that reinvigorates curiosity among city dwellers. Utilizing mystery and mischievous play as it’s main themes, this icon strives to be an agent of provocation and disruption that is keenly aware of its environment.

1.2 Key Question How can I visually explore the concept of mischief in the context of public spaces?

1.3 Objectives As you can see, there is a gradual decline in the awareness of someone who frequently inhabits a city. This is due to the sensory madness of their environment in combination with busy schedules. I believe that these trips in between could afford the city dweller a possibility for an imaginative reverie, to let their mind wander from their busy schedule, and bring smiles to their faces. This reprieve could be quite a relief for city dwellers as stress rates are normally reported to be much higher in cities, then the suburbs and rural areas.

This chance to break away and view the city from a different visual perspective could boost curiosity could be just what the doctor ordered.

My project therefore, intends to take advantage of the city environment which is in my opinion, rife with possibilities, using it to create something that introduces some element of mischievous play into the mix. As I mentioned earlier in the text I am specifically interested in introducing visual icon, into the city environment as my vehicle to create discourse with my audience. Another objective in this project has been to determine what sort of icon might be able to really connect with my audience.

I have been in touch with Lars Denicke co-head of Pictoplasma a festival which has for the last decade has been championing character centric work. Lars says the project has been a way for them to “free character creators from commercial contexts, and talk about the power of them as a new, graphical language beyond all cultural boundaries”. My contact with Lars convinced me of the multifaceted power of characters which unlike other icons can be both a container for a commercial message or a beacon for something more abstract and emotional. I intend to use this character as a way to hopefully have something that people can identify with on an emotional level, something that stares out of the posters on the walls, vying for passerby’s attention.

With this visual device as my vehicle for mischievous discourse with my target audience, the next objective is to promote the city for which the project resides in to the people who occupy it on a daily basis. I want to think of the project as a subversive tourism campaign, which instead of talking about what already exists in the city, endeavors to introduce something new into the environment, in order to create new experiences for the people living there.

In regards to my research I want to view this project from two different angles, the first will be an application of the ethos and approach that I have learned in my four preceding years to this project as an art director,.Although this project strives to break out of the normal conventions of advertising I think it would foolish to disregard them altogether. There are many tools that I can include from this experience, that will be explained in the strategy chapter. These tools and thought processes are no doubt an intrinsic part of my methodology and approach to the idea generation both in my research and the execution of my project.

Secondly, I want to include more philosophical approach in

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my analysis. During the course of my research I stumbled onto some texts on picture theory that served as a refreshing point of view on a subject that I have been viewing from an glaringly similar lens since I started my bachelors more than 7 years ago. I believe these concepts and models are important to the experimental aspects of my project, not only for me as designer, but for hopefully allowing me to devise experiments which reach outside the box and inspire thought and conversation in my audience.

This is of course a high watermark I am setting for this research, but I feel it also really points at the very nature of the practical project: I am not attempting to provide a solid answer to the questions I have posed but rather to explore a range of possible solutions, which allows me to explore various mediums and their power to disrupt, and provide heightened awareness in the city setting .Secondarily, I believe this project is a chance for me to personally make a comment of the visual culture of cities, which are an undeniable influence in my creative life. My choice to proceed with the project in this manner is motivated by a desire expand my visual vocabulary, elevate design thinking and to gain a stronger understanding of my own personal philosophy as a visual communicator.

This approach is also absolutely essential to project like this as a means to help me provide a unique approach that helps differentiate my project from previous texts and projects surrounding street art and advertising. I also feel by maintaining this “double consciousness” of both the practical and philosophical concepts links up quite well to my current philosophy as a designer. My pleasure in being a visual communicator is derived from what I like to call creative schizophrenia.

With this term I mean to identify my passion for both the process oriented pragmatic approach of the design process, and the freewheeling experimental nature of authorship driven design projects, which push boundaries in the field. I think the contrast between these two approaches provides a rich discourse which I am eager to explore permutations of.

1.4 Target Audience & Location Before getting any deeper into the specifics of the project I think it is paramount to mention the specific location this project will come to life in, as well as noting a particular audience that I believe will benefit from my endeavors. Up until this point in the text I have spoken largely about my ex-

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periences growing up in Manhattan, however, I do not intend to complete the practical part of this project in my home city.

Primarily because of my location in Norway, which doesn’t allow for me the possibility to experiment and observe from my work on the street. However, I do not see this as a negative thing at all, I feel that in taking my masters here in Bergen, I was looking to explore a new place, filled with new possibilities that are different from those present in New York.

In actuality I think Bergen, is the perfect testing area for the ideas and experiments I have been developing during the course of this project. New York’s incredible size, and density, makes it quite difficult to really get the proper coverage of visuals to make a difference without a team of people and a substantial budget. Bergen on the other hand, provides a much more modest atmosphere over a smaller area in which, I believe I will be able to observe the results. It is here I will have the resources and manpower to successfully conduct the pilot project which serves as the core of my practical project as well as really observe the full scope of effects this project may or may not have. On a personal level I think that it is pertinent to mention that this decision is also motivated by my desire to really forge a connection with the city of Bergen, which has been my home for two years in which I have been developing this project.

The people who inhabit these cities are of course a pretty good reflection of their intense environments as well as the main targets of my project. I think that the visual part of my project has the ability to effect anyone in the city environment (such as visitors and commuters from outside the city).

However, I think it is the people who live day to day in these metropolitan areas who stand to benefit the most from what I want to do. I specifically would like to target younger people in these cities ages 18-25. I believe this audience is a appropriate choice because I think they have the greatest aptitude to be interested in the visual language I want to speak in.

These are young, curious people that are interested in the city experience, perhaps starting at college or settling in to their first careers. Not only are they receptive but I believe them to be completely immersed in madness of city life. Whereas and older demographic might have slowed down a bit socially and settled down with kids or a spouse. My target group are very active travelers of the city streets, engaging in social activities whenever they can fit them in their schedules, staying up too late, and trying to squeeze every last drop of entertainment out of the city experience.

1.5 Limitations

Character

• Since the research mixes both a philosophical and commer cial points of view, regular commercial factors present in visual communication are not my main consideration. This is because my intention with the project is to move outside commercially oriented advertising methods, and take an approach which puts emphasis on some of the models and concepts I have explored in the research as well as some of the methods utilized by more subversive forms of visual communication.

When I mention characters within the context of this project I want to clarify that I am specifically taking about anthrophmorphized characters which are exist as brand marks, storytelling devices, and authorship driven projects. Relying on reduced forms and the simple communication of eye contact, the characters are my proposed graphic device for making contact with the city dwellers of Bergen.

• It is also paramount to mention that this while this project will be researching and analyzing cities from a broad context, that the methods I will be developing will be applied to my target city of Bergen Norway. Although, I believe this model could feasibly be applied to other cities, it would be very short sighted for me to assume I could carbon copy my research to fit everywhere. This research will culminate in a practical project which will serve as an illustration of the process and results.

In regards to the framework of this project this term means to interrupt or impede the progress and movement through the city environment. Though disuption is often spoken of with a negative connotation, in this project it serves as a conduit to heightened awareness which is the main goal of the project.

1.5 Key Concepts Mischief I am using this word to illustrate the overall tone of the project. In my opinion there could be a conceivably large amount of ways to make contact with an audience and shock them. For example you could use a political agenda in combination with visual communication to make people aware of an environment. An execution like that would probably color the project in a more serious way. It also would allude to themes that could conceivably draw people away from the core purpose of the project. I have made the decision to choose mischief as my theme because of more lighthearted connotations. It implies a playful misbehavior often related to children.

City Environment As noted in my introduction, the city serves as the axis around which the rest of my project will rotate. I will be further examining the way images in our environment shape our perception, and opinions of our environment in the analysis section.

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Disruption

Section Two

2.1 Prologue Before delving into nuances of the topic, I would like to establish my role in the project for the readers. I believe this is paramount as it frames my approach and introduces the reader to the lens in which I am viewing my material. That said, I intend to take the role of visual provocateur in this project, because I am intending through my research to breed a brand of visual behavior that utilizes mystery and mischievous play as its main tools to inspire thought in the audiences. In the research I have tried to reflect this agenda by choosing to not only approach this project from the normal angles that I would if this was a client brief. As such, I have valued ideas, and literature which sparked reflective conversations in my own head around my topic.

2.2 Approach and Methodology The purpose of this research is primarily to understand the relationship between visual communication and how it shapes our feelings and understanding of our environment.

Specifically centering on how visuals on the street can antagonize, and create curiosity. It is because of this that the research is being approached from a qualitative angle. This will allow me to create meaningful discourse around the nuances of this topic. Through literature review, case studies and analysis I hope to gain new perspectives on this topic which I can then actively use on the street in my practical project.

2.3 Basic Background material and Research Whether or not we are aware of it we are exposed to a climate of design through mass media outlets. The large looming shadow of this design, constantly nudging us to recognize our desire for any given amount of products is omnipresent in cities. As any city dweller knows, living in the city means constantly being tempted by your desires, for new clothes, exotic food experiences, and new images to surround ourselves with. We suppress the powers of these images through a number of channels, most notably in my observations with our electronic devices, which provide yet another vast window of experiences, for which we can then delve into, or our schedules and personal desires. What sorts of experiences can be gained by being an active participant in our journeys

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through the city environment? The goal of this section hinges on the exploration of this question,and explaining how these ideas could possibly inspire decisions in the practical project.

In order to present the research in a concise manner, and imbue it with a some sort of story for the reader I have broken my analysis into three sections. The first section Media in Public space will provide an overview of the proposed environment,establishing the city as the axis in which the rest of the project rotates and explaining the historical relationship printed matter has had with public space. Through the lens of different types of printed street media I will explain how this environment as well as our immersion into the digital world could shape perspectives and agendas of the people who inhabit it. In the next section Visual Atmospheres we will zoom a bit closer and analyze the two different streams of media present in cities, both that of mainstream advertising and more subversive means, such as, but not limited to graffiti.

Through case studies and consideration of some successful projects, I will compare and contrast these two unique processes of garnering the attention of the public, to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in regards to the beholder.

Finally, In the last part of this chapter Adding Character, I will dive into my decision of a character-centric approach to my key question, and provide rationale for why characters are worthy beacons of the project’s message.

2.1.1 Media & The City The act of projecting images on walls in public space is something that can be traced back to the earliest cave paintings.

Our fascination for developing new ways to communicate in public space, has ceased to falter since that moment. We use the public space as a forum to display our products, let people know about events, and to let our perspectives on something be heard. Even with the crazy amounts of digital advances, sophisticated sharing apps, and social networks, the street will always be a prime arena to express your ideas, and to let them be seen. It is also a space that continues to inspire artists, illustrators and designers alike. After all if you want to share a message, what better place then a city street where endless wandering eyes travel each day? The immense visual atmosphere of the city is incomparable to more rural areas, and even the suburbs. A cornucopia of images, that range

from refined advertisements which tempt your desires for objects and services, to crusty flyers for underground punk rock shows, all have one thing in common, and that is they all want your attention.

Today, the city is a visual assault, we are hit with an average of 1,500 advertisements daily, and studies show that we will only remember 5-10 of these. This statistic plainly illustrates the battle for visual power going on the streets of most cities.

The winners in this ongoing visual war manage to create a solution that creates a visual spectacle, that builds presence among it’s proposed audience. It reinforces that presence through a memorable visual execution that leaves a lasting impression.

It is because of this dense visual atmosphere that the people have had to adapt, they needed to learn how to navigate city environments packed to the brim with visual stimuli, while still maintaing what they needed to accomplish practically during their days. This is what I believe has given rise to the “Blinder Effect” which is something that I began to think of as our defense against the striking number of pictures we encounter each day. By this I mean to illustrate that we only concentrate on what’s directly in front of us in our journeys (Which is not to say the pavement, but our practical agenda’s and what we need to accomplish). In this process we filter out the rest of what we are seeing and move forward with our goals, leaving the roaring clamor of pictures behind us. As I said in the introduction, I do believe that in most cases, this is a necessary and completely valid behavior for successfully navigating through our lives in cities. However, I also wonder if by getting so involved in our schedules, and busy lives that we deny ourselves the chance to be surprised or gain a new perspective? I’m sure there are endless reasons that people move to cities, they are bottomless pits of opportunity, they are cultural hubs, they give us a place to both get lost and find ourselves. However, I believe that part of taking advantage of these infinite possibilities requires us be observant and open to the great things cities have to offer us.

Heidegger, talked about a concept in his seminal writings “Being and Time” where he introduces the German term of “Daesin” which literally means “being there.” To Heidegger this term was a way of living that was involved with and

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caring for the immediate world that we live in, while always remaining aware of the ever changing state of this involvement, the priority of the world to the self, and the evolving nature of the self itself.” According to his concept, in order to truly discover the essence of things,we have to be have passionate enough to be to truly be investigate them, it is not enough to be just “present” and around them. Put plainly, I think we have responsibility to be present in a time where digital platforms reign supreme. Screens dominate almost every moment of our waking existence, from our first morning moment to our last before bed. This immersion in technology in tangent with the heavy streams of advertising already present in our lives has lead to full scope of anti social behaviors that I personally am disappointed in both as a designer and as a human being. All research aside this really gets at the core of why I am engaging in such a project. Can visual communication in our environments be used as a mechanism for plucking us momentarily out of this trance, and remind us to be aware of our surroundings, and how they are evolving right before our eyes?

2.1.2 Staking Out the City The definition of a city, differs vastly from place to place, different rules and regulations in countries and different cultural standards make it very hard to pinpoint exactly what a city is. However, when one thinks of a city there is an immediate image that is conjured up in our heads, specific sensory cues begin to fill our minds. We begin to imagine the city we are most familiar with, or recall pictures of a city that we desire to visit, and this perhaps is how we form our ideas about what separates a city from a suburbs. Whatever, the answer is, nailing down in exact definition is not the purpose of this research. In fact i think it would be quite presumptuous to believe that there could be a standard set of variables to use in a project like this. I mention this because throughout the duration of the text the reader will notice that I refer to “Cities” in an extremely general manner. The only times I will actually reflect on the specific nuances is when I am talking about Bergen, Norway, where the project is taking place, and I physically exist, and New York, where I have spent the better part of my 25 years on Earth. I don’t believe any amount of research can dictate what the evolving nature of every city is.

It is a feasible approach for this particular project because, I

believe, that observation’s of the target city as well, as a history of living in one of the worlds biggest cities, are a better compass then any number of texts which quickly go extinct as cities around the world continue to redefine the definition.

In conclusion, in a project such as the one I am proposing I believe that as a designer, I can through research develop a simple model for approaching my audience. This model can then be applied to any city, where the practical project, would involve gathering observations about the city, and tailoring a unique visual approach that kept the specific cultural values of the city in mind. Though my research on cities is quite general in this section, the reader can expect, to see a more refined approach, in the visual strategy section. The practical part of the project, will give clarity to the term city, through it’s experiments and subsequent reflections in Bergen.

2.1.3 Distracted Perception As I mentioned in the introduction, in the beginning of my research I was looking for an explanation of how to conceptualize how we move through the distinctly powerful sensory environments of cities without becoming completely distracted.

I began to present some of the ideas of German philosopher Walter Benjamin, who wrote about a concept called “Distracted Perception” in his essay The Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Though, the term itself finds its origin in essay which isn’t talking about city travelspecifically.

In fact he is talking about the difference between viewing a work of art, where the viewer is completely absorbed in the work versus viewing the film where the viewer is instead guided through the work based on a series of distractions.

Benjamin also goes on to use this very same idea to describe how we view architecture, saying “Architecture has always represented the prototype of a work of art the reception of which is consumed by a collectivity in a state of distraction.”

To me Benjamin’s concept of“distracted perception” is absolutely applicable to how we experience cities.

Diving a bit deeper into Benjamin’s concept of distracted perception I would like to present a quote from Benjamin’s seminal essay The Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction where he says “ The distracted person too, can form habits. Moreover their ability to master certain tasks in a state of distraction proves that their solution has become a

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matter of habit”. Again, although in reference to art and film, reading this quote provided me with a tremendous amount of insight regarding city travel. It became apparent to me the city travel is made easier through the development of habits associated with our senses. It is through these habits that I believe we begin to build a solid routine in own heads and able to tune out the rest of the sensory noise going on around us. Regarding architecture, Benjamin makes the claim that our senses of sight and touch are susceptible to habituation.

Since, Benjamin has never talked about the city experience as a whole it makes me wonder about how many of our senses are using habitual experiences to guide us around the city.

Recounting my own experiences living in cities, especially in New York, where I have lived my most of my life, I would say that sight, touch, smell and hearing, are all habituated in city travel. In order to provide an example of the habitual sensory experiences to the reader, I will separate out a single experience of going to the subway on my morning journeys in New York. The purpose of this example is to highlight what these habituated experiences could be. Starting in the morning when leaving my apartment, I was always drawn to the green glass sphere, which is used as a brand mark of all new york city subways, anyone who has spent any amount of time in Manhattan will unconsciously recognize these spheres and their locations. On my way to the subway, the metal grates under my feet, radiated a sound of metal wheels against the track, which in turn would cause me to speed my pace if I heard them while walking. This was because it signified the trains was almost at the station below me. Once, below at the station, I would have to run my card immediately through the reader order to be allowed to move through the metal gate which blocked me from the train platform. This action is most certainly a habitualized touch feeling. Especially, because these card readers in New York are a bit old and require a specific speed of swiping in order to register the purchase and cause the turnstile to let you through. For people living in New York, this is a skill which develops within a few months of living in the city, and people who are ineffective at swiping through the turnstile will often, garner aggravated groans, and jeers if they cause a hold up at the turnstile because of an inability to swipe at the right speed. Breaking down these three habitual actions in writing brings attention to them in a way that they would never be seen, because all of them,

including the swipe are unconscious to me when navigating through the city. Yet they hold a power over us, pushing us to move faster (when not absolutely necessary) and are responsible for the specific routes we take to work.

I think these habitual acts can then be broken down into to categories which I briefly described in the introduction. I proposed that our compass in navigating cities is dependent on two things: Our aesthetic preferences, and our personal schedules. To illuminate the meaning of these categories I connect some of my expeperiences to them. Starting with aesthetic acts, we can look back at thecolor of the subway lights and stairs as I mentioned, which I surmise could be described as a collective habitual experience. By this I mean, it is a shared habitual experience, that all people living in New York can have. On the other hand, someone may choose to eat at certain locations, or hang out around specific areas in a city. This is undoubtedly based on our own personal schedule and it seems to me that this schedule, varies so much, that they vary from person to person. Focusing on all these habituated senses in my project in Bergen, would undoubtedly prove to be too wide of a scope for me to tackle. I would like to specifically focus on challenging those habitual experiences which have their origin in sight, with maybe some small experiments with those concerned with our hearing. As a visual communicator, I think my skill set is best suited to take on the sense of sight, and it will provide me with boundless opportunities for visual expermentation.

2.1.4 Defamilarization Habitual acts, as you can see are important as they help us to create a schedule and sense of hierarchy in our city travels.

However, I also believe that these habits are the reason why we begin to take our surroundings for granted, and our awareness becomes gradually diminished. Russian writer Viktor Shklovsky sheds some light on this very connection I am making when he talked about “unconscious automatic actions” in his essay Art as a Technique. In this essay Shklovsky points out that “As perception becomes habitual, our actions in regards to that behavior retreat to the unconsciously automatic.” Everyone has experienced an unconscious automatic behavior, for example if you have ever left your apartment and felt you have forgotten to lock your door, only to find

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out you have, then you have experienced an unconscious automatic act.

It appears that along with the formation of these habits which help us to move through the city, we begin to enter a state of autopilot, which in turn makes us less aware of our environments. This might be a time to pause and consider what sorts of negative effects this state of unconscious automatic behavior could really have on us? It would be nothing deadly to us as human beings, but there is a possibility that it contributes to our own feelings of boredom for the city that we inhabit. Instead of picking at our over-routinized days, we instead give the blame of our boredom on the fact that our city “isn’t interesting anymore.” I personally, have observed young people having this attitude towards cities everywhere I have lived. I see it here in Bergen, where people lust to visit “bigger, more interesting cities” and in New York where it’s not strange to overhear young people remarking “I’m so tired of this place, I can’t wait to get the hell out of here.”

The reason, for this reaction is glaringly simple, as designer and writer Kenya Hara puts it “We aren’t motivated by the things we know, instead we are motivated to make the world known.” If things in our lives become too planned out and are subject to routine, our minds begin to get bored and we start looking for the next thing to refresh our awareness, whether it be a new career, a new car, or a new place to live.

Luckily, in addition to identifying unconscious automatic actions, Shklovsky also conceived a term which I think sheds light on how I can challenge habituation of our actions in the city space. This term (which was also conceived in Art as a Technique) is know as defamilarization. In regards to this term Shklovsky says “ art exists (so) that one may recover the sensation of life; it exists to make one feel things, to make the stone stony. The purpose of art is to impart the sensation of things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The technique of art is to make objects “unfamiliar,” to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged.” The concept of defamilarization seems to fit the intentions of my project perfectly.

Although, Shklovsky is talking about art in this essay, I can easily see visual communication taking on a similar role.

One might argue that visual communication is different in

that it is supposed give clarity, and communicate effectively about product, service or cause. However, taking something ordinary, and making it unfamiliar to the audience could be an plausible process for helping people identify the absence of curiosity in their travels throughout the city space as not a product of an environment for which they have thoroughly explored but a byproduct of their routinized daily life.

Heidegger also adds another dimension to this concept of defamiliarization in his celebrated essay The Orgin of the Work of Art where he says “[Art] gives things their look, and human beings their outlook.” In his essay Heidegger goes on to say that works of art are not just mere interpretations of the way things are but they actually produce communities of shared understanding. He dramatically points out that each time a new artwork is added to a culture the meaning of what it is to exist is altered. I personally can reflect on the relevance to this statement not so much by thinking about an artwork, but by thinking of recent design history and immediately think about how the introduction of smart phones and tablet’s has altered our existence and dependence on social media. The birth and craze for iphones, has created a new dependency for us, as well new behaviors and consequences that we must become aware of in our lives. Additionally, one needs to look no further then the OBEY Giant campaign (which I will dive deeper into a bit later in this chapter) by Shephard Fairey to see this at work on the street. Fairey’s self proclaimed assault on commercial advertising, which aimed to push people to examine their relationship with the advertisments around them had a profound effect on the youth culture during the 90’s, and definitely influenced the way certain types of people were looking at the the advertisments around them.

When thinking about my own project in relation to Heidegger’s essay it made me reflect on the notion of success. What would I consider a successful outcome, to a project like this?

Would I be aiming for something monumental like altering existence in the city of Bergen or would the reaction of a smile, and perhaps the curious eye of an onlooker be enough?

For me the ideal outcome would be to disrupt the normal flow of peoples travels in Bergen, allowing them to step out of their normal schedule and observe their environment with a reawakened curiosity. The highest watermark of success would be for me to produce “shared community of

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understanding” among people, who would be affected by my campaign enough to collect my posters, and follow my experiments.

2.1.5. Exformation in the City Finally, I would like to talk about another concept which is very much connected to the concept of defamiliarization, except, it has it’s origins in the world of visual communication. In Kenya Hara’s 1998 book Designing Design he talks about a concept called Exformation which he describes as part of a conceptual pair along with information. According to Hara “Exformation doesn’t mean “making known” but understanding how little we know.” Hara explains that what refreshes the human mind is the unknown, we spend our days in contact with endless amounts of information, but we never truly dive deep into actually knowing something. Instead we come into contact with a lot of fragments of information, which give us a thin understanding of a subject. Hara’s conception of exformation, to me seems to have a strong connection to the aforementioned concept of defamilarization, in that it seeks to make people more aware of their environment, by making something which is generally known, and approaching it from an angle which causes us to question how much we truly know about it.

Exformation was a project designed by Hara for his class at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo. The idea of his experiment with students was based around the question “Is it possible to communicate not by “making things known” but by making understood how little we do know” His class devised experiments based around a famous river in Tokyo in order to communicate how little people in Japan actually know about a river that is supposedly of historic value. I wondered if the same principle could be applied to my own project. I certainly don’t expect my audience to abandon their electronic devices and be deeply tuned into whats going on in their surroundings all the time. I think that would be a hard habit to get people to break out of and the purpose of this project is not to wage war against our addiction to the web and social media.

However, it is my postulation that the use of mystery, and a bit of ambiguity in the work will be a good way to get my

audience interested in the project. To explain this I will suggest two scenarios: A first level example of this might be a poster on the street that has a strange shape or format, maybe it comes off the actual wall and is more sculptural.

Another example could be if there was an advertisement out on the street that looked like it was featuring a product or service but upon closer inspection actually was filled with text that was completely nonsensical and had nothing to do with the poster. Though these concepts will need to be further deveoped in my practical work I think Hara’s concept of exformation illuminates an approach where I can use the exisiting media on the street in a way that can causes the passerby to question their own knowledge of posters and become more engaged with what they are seeing. I can sum it up no better then revisit the words from the opening chapter of Hara’s book where he says “ To understand something is not to be able to define it. Instead, taking something we think we already know it making it unknown thrills us afresh with its reality and deepens our understanding of it.”

Using this foundation of research about the city as a starting point I now want to dive deeper into a discussion about the visual communication that exists on the street. In the next section Visual Atmospheres, I will go into depth about both advertising and subversive media’s footprints in the city

2.2.0. Visual Atmospheres 2.2.1. Subversive media Up until this point in this thesis I have been using the term subversive media to describe the flip side of the coin to advertising in terms of intentions. I would like to us this space to really make the reader aware of boundaries of this term. I have established the term “Subversive Media” as an umbrella to encompass all things done on the street which go against the normal hierarchy,methods and messages that are perpetuated in normal advertising. I feel that anything less general then this term would involve me pigeonholing work into a category where it doesn’t actually belong. For example, if I were just to label this sort of media “Graffiti” it would be severely limiting. because graffiti refers to things that are directly written or painted onto walls, which in effect, dis-

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criminates against, posters, or wheat pastes which have the same purpose, but utilize a different medium.

In order to harness the power within these two different tones of communication it is important that I spent some time looking into the histories of both advertising and authorship driven projects on the street and defining their relevance in this project. This will serve as an overview of these types of media for the reader and will be elaborated later in this section through case studies. While advertising dominates a very defined territory within a cities visual atmosphere, subversive media is ever changing and harder to pin down . This amorphous quality of subversive media is due to a number of reasons which I have compiled based on my observations of a cross section of graffiti,wheat pastes and other ephemera I have analyzed during the course of the project.

The original intention of this sort of visual work on the street was to aggravate, provoke people and is considered vandalism. In most places around the world, the freedom to create work anywhere is subversive, especially when it requires violations of established law to create it. That’s why New York City deemed graffiti as vandalism back in 1980 and started locking people up. Subversive media has not set motivation, no alignment with a particular environment though, it does exist on the streets. This works rich history while routed in graffiti culture, is not confined to it. The communication forms used in subversive media is not limited to any specific medium. There is no target audience, the work is made to bother, or spark thought in whoever lays eyes on it. Also, in comparison to advertising, a graffiti writers identity is not known by the viewer when viewing the work. This lack of identity in my opinion enhances the power of work because, we as the viewer are constantly curious about what sort of person or group is putting it up and the intentions attached to them. Perhaps the most interesting variable in this sort of subversive media is the aspect of location. Most advertising campaigns has a specific time period in which they exist, during this time they maintain high visibility through the different communication materials that were created for the campaign, and this work made in mass production is rarely in my observations, taking into consideration a specific enviromental context. Subversive media on the street differs greatly

from advertising in that it’s freedom of material,communication and audience is underpinned with impermanence, but often keenly aware of it’s context in the environement.

Depending on the agenda of the person putting the work up this leaves boundless interesting ways in which they can approach a specific location. Even in the case that the artist has not considered the location specifically, I hypothesize that the audience that passes it by will undboubtdly be using the environment as one persepective on how to decode the image they are seeing.

One reason I have put in the time to research and make some of my own observations about this work is because at the core of this sort of work, is the idea of provocation. It isn’t (in most cases) meant to mix in with the rest of the noise created by advertising. Subversive media according to my research shouldn’t have any commercial intentions, any plans to inspire material desires in its audience. This makes it stand out when in the presence of more mainstream communication materials. In my practical work, the aim is to provoke people to have some sort of reaction,I am personally very interested in seeing whether the work is torn down, if people interact with it, or deface it. I believe these qualities and intentions are essential criteria for me to include in my development of the practical project and are crucial for adding mystery and interest to what I am trying to accomplish as a visual communicator.

If I were to take a more straightforward campaign approach in this project I believe it would be quite difficult to raise my voice loud enough to really touch people and get them to pay attention. By adopting a visual rhythm that is different then what people are used to seeing in advertising, I believe I have a better chance at standing out. Borrow from the ethos of subversive media to gain some methods that can really add an air of mystery, and mischief to what I am trying achieve.

After all, antagonism is an intrinsic part of this kind of communication.

2.2.2. Case Study: Obey Giant One way to see the plausibility, and far reaching effects of subversive media in the city space is to talk some really

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successful projects that have pioneered the ideas I have been speaking about. I’d like to begin with one of the most notable street art projects of the last decade. The OBEY Giant campaign was created by acclaimed graffiti, contemporary artist and clothing line owner Shephard Fairey. It would be unfair to call Fairy any less then a figurehead of the street art movement his campaign and company OBEY, had an extremely big impact on me and countless other skateboarding youths, who were becoming increasingly enthralled with the graffiti world. Fairey grew up in the Midwest in the 1970s from an extremely small town and moved to Rhode Island in the mid 80’s to attend school at RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design). It was there that he became extremely interested in stencils and began making them for t-shirts and stickers.

When showing a friend how to make stencils one day he stumbled on an image of Andre the Giant, which he made into a stencil in order to teach a friend the process. Fairey later decided to use the stencil in tangent with the words “Obey Giant” commenting on the intentions of corporate advertisement campaigns and big brother conspiracies. He began making stickers and posters, and posting them around Rhode Island for fun. Much to Fairy’s surprise his small endeavor ended up in the local papers, who debated who was behind the stickers he was putting up. This was enough affirmation for Fairey who after the publicity continued full force to develop his ideas and put stickers and posters wherever he could. It was during this time that he crafted the Obey manifesto which served as the basis for which all of his creative output stems from, even today. I think that this manifesto is pertinent to quote here because it shares many of the same intentions of this project, but a much different agenda, which is politically charged.

The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as “the process of letting things manifest themselves.”

Phenomenology attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.

The FIRST AIM OF PHENOMENOLOGY is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment. The OBEY sticker

attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with the sticker provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer’s perception and attention to detail. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Because OBEY has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.

Many people who are familiar with the sticker find the image itself amusing, recognizing it as nonsensical, and are able to derive straightforward visual pleasure without burdening themselves with an explanation. The PARANOID OR CONSERVATIVE VIEWER however may be confused by the sticker’s persistent presence and condemn it as an underground cult with subversive intentions. Many stickers have been peeled down by people who were annoyed by them, considering them an eye sore and an act of petty vandalism, which is ironic considering the number of commercial graphic images everyone in American society is assaulted with daily.

Another phenomenon the sticker has brought to light is the trendy and CONSPICUOUSLY CONSUMPTIVE nature of many members of society. For those who have been surrounded by the sticker, its familiarity and cultural resonance is comforting and owning a sticker provides a souvenir or keepsake, a memento. People have often demanded the sticker merely because they have seen it everywhere and possessing a sticker provides a sense of belonging. The Giant sticker seems mostly to be embraced by those who are (or at least want to seem to be) rebellious. Even though these people may not know the meaning of the sticker, they enjoy its slightly disruptive underground quality and wish to contribute to the furthering of its humorous and absurd presence which seems to somehow be anti-establishment/societal convention. Giant stickers are both embraced and rejected, the reason behind which, upon examination reflects the psyche of the viewer. Whether the reaction be positive or negative, the stickers existence is worthy as long as it causes people to consider the details and meanings of their surroundings. In the name of fun and

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observation.

Shepard Fairey, 1990 This manifesto is extremely interesting because it is the only time in the history of graffiti that someone has taken the time to write a well articulated account of their intentions for the public to see. The manifesto has given Fairey both extremely good and bad press from the graffiti underground,good because it was a very well articulated, and inspiring for young artists on the come up and negative because it spawned the transition of graffiti into the gallery setting, where the intentions of the medium are commoditized. It also was subject to a lot of criticism from the media due to Fairey’s manipulation of Heidegger’s ideas, including some misquotes about the aims of phenomenology.

In my own analysis and reflections about this document I put aside all of the other critiques and tried to comment specifically on Fairey’s motives, how he was using images to create mischief, and stimulate curiosity. In the first few lines of this manifesto he really nails an idea that I have been trying to articulate during the course of my research. Fairey says that the OBEY campaign “Attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people both to question their sticker and their surroundings.” Although, I don’t agree with Fairey’s interpretation of Heidegger I do think his “experiment” was founded on some well thought out ideas. This is evident by seeing how this campaign has involved into a brand which has quite a large footprint in the urban/street wear market, and it’s presence in the collective consciousness of pop culture. Fairey has mentioned in interviews that he believes in the simple idea that the repetition of an picture, if done enough, will begin to spark curiosity in viewers, even if the motive of the picture is not evident. This is because if we see something enough in a public setting, we begin to equate it’s constant presecence to importance. This leads to observations such as “If it’s out there in such great scale, it must be part of something important.” I think if Fairey’s experiment has proved anything for me it is that the execution of a project with motives such as mine is completely plausible, supposing someone has the passion to put in the effort of making this image present enough in a location.

role of the designer was previously argued against by many design luminaries such as Mueller Brockman who believed that designer existed as a facilitator, and could not operate without a brief and client. Things, such as personal style were not factored into this definition, as it was rejected by the modernist schools of thought. If we fast forward to our current conversation nearly 18 years after this article was written, we can see how this idea of authorship has crawled from the fringes of design circles and into common practice.

With the evolution of social media, many designers have blogs which they post experiments and inspiration to, this is considered a plus by those hiring these young designers.

In fact this work has the ability to bring creatives outside freelance, and appearances in anthologies which collect these sort of personal endeavors.

had a “urban” aesthetic, new street wear labels seemed to be founded every other day, and artist’s such as Banksy and the aforementioned Shephard Fairy, seemed to be creating work that really taking some chances. However, in 2013, this work feels like a well worn path, it has become so overblown and constantly commoditized by the corporate market that it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It is because of this that I am very wary of taking on too many of graffiti and street artists, characteristics, while I think there ideals can be excellent jumping off points, I am very consciously not trying to make a project about “Street art.” Once you leave behind the notion of “urban art” I am curious as to what sorts of concepts authorship inclined designers and illustrators would produce on the streets if they had the chance, what would they choose to show the public?

Taking another look at the article for Eye Magazine, I noticed that Rock talks about what he believes are the largest avenues for this sort of authorship to occur in design: that of the book and activism. While Rock does not explicitly say that authorship exists elsewhere, he doesn’t offer any other suggestions. In fact the whole article, though very well written is mostly contemplative in it’s description of what authorship is today. The reason I bring this up for this project, is that I feel the words “Orgination and agency” are definitely aspects of this project. In my own reflections on the current state of authorship in visual communication, I think that it’s very obvious that the audience and encouragement for this work has grown tremendously, and will continue to be an important catalyst in some of the most experimental work we will see in visual communication.

2.2.4. Advertising

That said I feel that one place that hasn’t been touched by authorship, is the street. I have taken some time to peruse various taste making blogs such as Itsnicethat and The Fox is Black and it seems to me that most of this personal work seems confined very special formats and gallery settings.

One could almost say that Rock’s prediction of the book being “a prime arena for authorship” was absolutely on the mark. I myself am very curious why most of the work stays confined to the book. One of my own theories, is that it has something to do with the powerful presence of street art throughout the early part of the 2000’s. During that time for me, it felt as thought the market had been flooded with creative work that

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As I mentioned in the introduction, I wanted to approach this project from what I believe are two different types of media present on the street. Advertising, which represents most of the visual noise we encounter in cities on a daily basis, consists of posters, billboards (both print and moving image), flyers, guerrilla campaigns. Manipulating our desire for objects, clothes,images, and many other things, it’s aim is to communicate a brand message in a unique and novel way.

The city is arguably toughest battleground for these brands, full of distraction for all our senses. Working in advertising for two years before starting this project, gave me the possibility to work with a large variety of clients and gain an understanding of the climate of the industry. One of primary reasons I came back to take a masters was because I felt that a lot of the things I was creating for clients were not taking much of a risk.

In times such as now, where there is a strong financial crisis, it I can see why our clients are not really looking to spend money on concepts that taking huge risks. At the same time the companies I worked for were worried about keeping clients happy, so that the work would keep coming. This working atmosphere which would be quite familiar to many young designers out in the working world, is not the sort of atmosphere which encourages wild ideas. This plays directly into my project because it is only the studios and clients that

still push for these ideas, that manage to rise above the rest of the advertising cliches, and make something that truly captures the essence of a product or service. We are all so familiar with the codes and rhythms of advertising that most of the stuff we pass on a daily basis goes completely unnoticed. To give a prime of example of what sort of project could inspire my decisions in this project, I would like to talk in detail of a campaign that I believe rises above the normal conventions of advertising and embodies some of the traits I would like to include in my own project.

Sagmeister & Walsh took on a project for clothing brand Levi Jeans in June 2010. The project was to be a typographic execution in the form of billboard utilizing Levi’s excellent new tagline which was “We are all workers.” The execution ended up being what I think was one of my best advertising experiences my entire time being in New York. The studio created a billboard which in their own words aimed to “Illustrates the notion of “We are all workers” by constantly breaking down and rebuilding the typography placed on turning cogwheels.

Billboard installed in SoHo NYC.” Basically, these cogwheel which were powered by motor, would be propelled into motion for spans of five minutes. In those 5 minutes, the displaced typographic fragments would spin endlessly creating an arresting visual similar to a piece of optical art. However, at the end of the five minutes the cogs would abruptly and the tagline would again be legible. This simple idea, did two important things: It brought much needed reminder to Levi’s audience about it’s relevance which although a classic brand, was not doing so well. It also had amazing stopping power, because of it’s unconventional use of the billboard. Working nearby, I noticed that literally every 5 minutes, there was a new crowd of people traversing Astor place in Soho that would stop to look up. Being one of the people that came on upon this billboard without any prior knowledge of the project, I was stunned about the feeling that the billboard gave me. I believe, that it was not only a great advertisement but an execution that managed to add a new experience to passing through that part of the city.

The Sagmeister & Walsh project is an interesting contrast to the Obey project which I introduced earlier on in this section.

Where Shepherd Fairey relied on relatively simple applications of a very iconic graphic language to garner attention

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for his project, Sagmeister & Walsh use a relatively simple graphic language, but the application is an innovative one, that demands attention. In regards to this project, I will be looking to experiment with both of these approaches because they enhance understanding in different ways.

This knowledge has affected my own approach, and I believe that both these approaches can be succesfully utilized, and experimented with in the practical project. In the beginnings of my practical project, I have decided that I will experiment Fairey’s approach ,creating simple visual executions of my icon which will frequently appear around the city. This in my opinion will create a foundation of it’s presence around the city of Bergen. Once, I have accomplished this, I think it will be time to supplement theese simple executions with wilder ideas, that are more forward in their demands for attention.

It is my hypothesis that this initial layer of a simple presence will gain greater attention by the city goers once, I begin to try experimenting with things that are more forthcoming in their demands for audience attention.

2.2.5. Locative Media The successful application of subversive media or advertising campaigns is obviously different in it’s presence on the street.

Advertising is paying for it’s existence and is facilitating a client’s vision of a product, service or cause. It is at best, creating desire and knowledge about something. On the other hand subversive media, is often illegally placed, and although it may try to blend in with other advertising, it often harbors intentions, to confuse, distract, surprise, or provoke it’s audience into a cause which the author may or may not make abundantly clear. However, I think in terms of the goals and intentions of this research the highest watermark a project of either origin could reach would be the status of a term called “Locative media.” This term, which was define by Lily Shirvanee, a research associate at Cambridge University.

Shirvanee identifies the term in her essay Locative Viscosity: Traces of Social History in Public Space as “media that Actively create and sense a reciprocal awareness between people and their environment, thereby, merging various types of information and media within the limits of specific geographic landscapes; these limits may vary in dimension from a specific point in a landscape to large areas of space

Speaking from personal experience I remember seeing this sticker growing up. On a class trip to Manhattan in middle school and I remember seeing it posted in subway stations, the Andre the giant face combined the word “OBEY” written in all caps, made me very curious, I tore the sticked down as best as I could and brought it back home with me. It turns out many of my friends had seen the sticker and although we all had no idea, exactly what it meant, we thought it was interesting enough to look up on the web. Many advertising campaigns strive to have a fraction of the power that the OBEY campaign had. In fact, I can remember being in many client meetings while working on brands which wanted to be associated with urban culture, and Fairey’s project always came up as a reference from the client as for what the brand wanted to the campaign to feel like. It was a request that always made me smile, because I think the success of Fairey is outside the reach of bigger corporations, because they will never get to the honest core of what this project is trying to accomplish.

The takeaway from this campaign twofold, reading this manifesto (aside from being inspiring) makes me curious about what could happen if I created my own manifesto for this project. I think it could be a very interesting points to introduce as a criteria for the project as well as an introduction for those who come to visit it after it’s conclusion. Also, although I will be experimenting with the mediums I use to interact with people on the street,this manifesto reminds me to also keep it in mind that the simple repetition of something as minuscule as a sticker can begin to form a presence of something in peoples mind.

Lastly, Faireys’s OBEY project brought to mind something else that I hadn’t thought about in this project yet, the feeling of empowerment that comes along with engaging in this project. As I have to take my first steps in putting things up in the practical project I feel something that I have rarely felt as a designer before this moment. Another luminary working in graffiti Barry Mcgee sums up this feeling excellently when he is asked in an interview about why he was drawn to posting work in public places. Mcgee says ““If I live in an urban center — in a city — with constant advertising, I feel like I have every right to partake also. I don’t feel like it should be limited to corporations that can buy ad space. I just always

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assume that anything written on the wall was the authentic thing to me. The real voice.” Working as creatives in advertising and design industry there is often long processes that we go through before our work is introduced to a larger audience. In most of my experience working in advertising I would have to wait months before I could see how a visual I designed would look somewhere in public. Being able to skip this process and simply create and post things on the street gives me the immediate opportunity to have an audience. It makes me extremely aware of what I am saying and curious of how the manipulation of this message might effect people after a while of engaging in the project. It also makes me aware of how simple it is to create a conversation in the public forum, which in my opinion has boundless opportunities for creatives today.

Perhaps the best part of this equation, is that most subversive media comes with a cloak of anonymity. This is particularly exciting for me because this leaves the beholder with no preconceived notions about the person behind the works character, the work is just judged as it is existing on the street. In the case of the OBEY campaign Shephard Fairey has come forward and let his identity become known, and thus been able to develop his campaign into a business. However, with many other people engaging in this project this anonymity is an essential to their operations. This is because people are unable to draw conclusions on their work based on their image and character as a person. It makes me question how much of our own opinions on the things we see on the street or in everyday life are on the basis of knowing something about the organization or person behind them? Can anonymity subvert these normal observations and cause to become more curious about the message and the visuals accompanying it? This is definitely a variable that I will be turning a sharp eye when working on my practical project.­ 2.2.3.The Designer as the (street) author.

In Micheal Rock’s seminal article The Designer as Author for Eye magazine in 1996 he eloquently articulated the definition of a new community within the design field. This community was making work without a brief from a client, instead they were embarking on personal projects that Rock says include “seductive connotations of origination and agency.” This

such as nodes and pathways. Here, locative media is both the mediating technology and the data streams being exposed and exchanged.” Shirvanee’s research not only takes into consideration the various types of visual stimulus present on the street but also considers the how people are interacting and disseminating this media in a contemporary context.

Originally, I was interested in the term, because of the initial part of the definition which talks about how media can create this awareness between people and the environments, simply because this describes the exact exchange I am going for in this environment. This “reciprocal awareness” or constant exchange between person and environment, while not able to eliminate the habituation of our senses, in my opinion causes us to continue to check in and see what’s happening around us in our environment. However, after digging a little bit deeper into Shirvanee’s text I began to see that she was not only talking about the material on the street creating this awareness between person and environment but also who new social networking application could further strengthen this relationship, making this reciprocal relationship stronger for those living there as well as creating relationships between larger geographic landscapes.

While I am open to the possibility that my project could eventually expand to include a larger geographical landscape, I am limiting the work to the main city area of Bergen for the duration of this project. The insight gained from reading this text was more along the lines of harnessing social media as a possible reinforcement technique for the work present on the street. An idea which I have purposely left out the equation at the beginning of my research, mostly because I was wary that a social media component would possibly confuse the initial intentions of the project. However, it is important to realize that in this day and age that when people are excited about something they see, it is a natural behavior to want to share it with others.

Put plainly, It is no longer enough social currency just to own an artifact of the street, to show it to our friends when we they visit out apartments. Instead there is personal piece of mind in projecting these finding through social media outlets such as twitter, tumblr, instagram and facebook. However, it would be unfair to just say the this is symptom of the be-

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holder, it is also a tool which is capitalized on by the sender.

Reflecting on this concept as a visual communicator alone, we are expected today to not only, be skillful at what we do, successful exploitation of social media is not only expected but holds the possibility of having work noticed by a larger audience. Observing the hashtag “#graffiti” or “#street art” on instagram floods your phone with a seemingly infinite amount of images, published both by creator, with the hopes of reaching a larger audience and beholder, seeking affirmation for their keen eye and visual exploration skill. Social media outlets also helps us to convince ourselves that we are “followers” of specific ideas and images. If for example I were to follow Obey’s instagram feed, I would feel that I was getting a more “insiders” point of view on Shephard Fairey’s work, and I could share an image of one of his new pieces, and have the possibility of connecting with other people who also are collecting work associated with Obey.

In conclusion, the presence of the web in the project, is a variable that is paradoxically important, but also in my opinion, shouldn’t be given to much precedence. The powers of social media applications such as instagram to boost collective knowledge of a phenomenon on the street is a real measurable one, as it gives the followers of these creators a chance to view and trade experiences and perspectives in a much more easily accessible way. However, I wonder how much social media actually stimulates us to be aware of our environments, and encourages visual exploration? Due to the speedily available, vast amount of information offered to us by social media platforms I am personally very wary of it. It is my observation that it gives way to many thin relationships with the things we see and subsequently “follow.” We never really dive deep to discover what they are really about, and are continually pursuing the next new and unkown thing. For the purposes of my project, I think I will be experimenting with the ability of social media outlets such as Instagram to see if they can offer my project any more visibility to my audience in Bergen, and if it will encourage potential followers of my project, to collect and share the artifacts of the project that they find out on the streets.

2.3.0. Adding Character 2.3.1. The Contemporary Phenomenon

Following the closer look at Fairey’s Obey Campaign, it is a good time to have an in depth discussion about the use of a visual icon in this project. Fairey’s project in particular relies on the re-appropriation of Andre the Giant who is notable character in 80’s American pop culture. Fairey initially turned a photo of Andre into a stencil, which simplified the original photo. Perhaps, when the campaign started, people noticed the sticker because of it’s use of a recently deceased celebrity. However, over time Fairey has slowly manipulated and changed the way he has used the picture, in order to create an iconic image for his campaign. Now, I think it would be safe to say, that Fairey, has morphed the meaning of this original picture so much, that people no longer even associate his image with the career of Andre the Giant, it has evolved into a beacon for what the brand OBEY stands for.

Fairey, is of course not the only one to use an iconic character to as a means to make discourse with his audience. Artists such as KAWS and experiential art/design collective Friends With You have also championed character as central part of communicating with their audiences. The characters in these projects are used not only for gallery walls, but for creating experiential pieces for the public, and limited edition collaborations with brands, such as Louis Vuitton, or made into collectible vinyl toys which are ravenously consumed by the followers of these figurative phenomenons In my practical project, I am endeavoring to create an icon which I can then use to pilot all of my ideas on the streets of Bergen. This character serves as my vehicle to create experiences and discourse on the street. I have made this choice based on my own interest in character design, in tangent with interviews I have done with the founders of Pictoplasma, an international character design festival . I contacted the founders of Pictoplasma (Lars Denicke and Peter Thaler) for some suggestions on starting points for my research when I ran into trouble locating critical texts on character design and it’s history within iconography. To my surprise Denicke responded to me “There are no critical texts about character design, that was one of the reason we founded the festival, and began creating a visual archive of the examples we were seeing.”

In fact, I don’t think the term “Character Design” is even

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fitting term for the characters we see associated with brands, and even street artists such as Fairey. When presented this idea Denicke agreed with me and he elaborates on this idea, in his 2009 essay entitled Prepare for Pictopia . In this essay he says “‘Character design’ was hijacked as a technical term from the animation industry, where it still defines a fixed set of shapes necessary for the unvarying reproduction of a drawn actor. What differentiated the new breed of characters, as we saw it, was their ability to communicate emotionally and bypass the need for biographical explanations. Unlike pictograms that function as signs to transmit meaning giving directions or warnings – these characters were focused solely on eye contact, on triggering a simple process of communication. Free of all narrative and cultural restrictions, they operated as reflective surfaces, empty screens onto which viewers could project the psychology, attitude or emotion of their choosing.” There has been no real critical discussion about the characters we see today (aside from at pictoplasma events), many of whom are personal creations by designers and illustrators who merely set them free on the internet.

However, this contemporary interest in character creation didn’t say suspended in the computer screen for long and it soon fingered out into other media forms. Denicke sums up the history so far in the same essay where he states “The birth of the new breed of characters at the turn of the millennium was oblivious to its medium. For a short period of time, the digital functioned as a void in which physicality was irrelevant. But the urge to give characters a body and set them free from the closed circuits of technology won out: character designers extended their field of action into the hands-on media of urban art, doll-making, costume-design, sculpture or industrially produced designer toys.” Nearly, 14 years after the birth of this craze for character, we can see the desire both by the creators and the people following them is unwavering. Cult followings for character cause them to be eagerly snatched up by big established brands such as Nike who hope to absorb their cultural relevance It seems that the origin of most of these characters lies in authorship, they are created simply as personal icon for the designer or artist. However, it is my hypothesis that the contemporary craze for these characters in visual communication has a lot to do with art critic Nicolas Bourriaud’s relational

aesthetics. Bourriaud describes this term as “a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space.”The artist can be more accurately viewed as the “catalyst” in relational art, rather than being at the center.” Though the idea of relational aesthetics had fallen by the wayside of art critics in the early 2000’s, there is a very large movement of people bringing these ideas back into creative consciousness.

I think the character provides a great opportunity to facilitate interesting public interactions in the public space without the need for exstensive expanations about it’s motivation.

Denicke also offers up a pretty exciting theory as to why character driven work has become so prevalent in pop culture Prepare for Pictopia where he says “What unites all of these characters is their strong anthropomorphic appeal, their high-levels of what French art historian Georges Didi-Huberman identified as the essence of the image: ‘what we see is looking at us.’ For more than a decade, picture theory and the discourse of the ‘pictorial’ or ‘iconic turn’ have tirelessly pointed to the animist quality of the image and its dependence on mediation through the picture. German art historian Hans Belting stated: ‘Images ... do not exist by themselves, but they happen ... via transmission and perception. The German language ignores the difference between picture and image, which, though it seems to be a lack of distinction, nicely connects mental images and physical artifacts to one another” As you can see he bases his discourse about character largely around the ideas of German art historian Han’s Belting’s work on picture theory, which I think is particularly fascinating to reference when talking about the power of characters for project like mine. In my own research I specifically looked into Hans Belting’s work on picture theory and I think Denicke’s connection of it to the character is not only plausible but highlights the strengths of these playful graphic devices for inspiring curiosity in my audience. Put simply, characters have power because of the connection they create with people through eye contact, although they don’t actually physically exist, people seem to develop an understanding of their personalties and in turn can relate to them.

Denicke closes out his essay Prepare for Pictopia by saying “Animism, the process of attributing a soul to living and

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non-living entities, is key to understanding the way characters function. They radiate a presence, as if they were truly alive... In characters, which are graphically pared down to the very rudiments of visual language, the ‘desire of the image’, operates at full power. They playfully sample and remix the visual codes of pop, folk- lore, brand logos and comics, but resist being restricted to any one genre. Breaking free of their visual ancestry, they assume a life of their own.” I think Denicke’s essay speaks to not only the power of characters but the elasticity for them in a project such as mine. The utilization of characters seems like a great choice when thinking about my busy audience of city inhabitants. This is not just because of their strong presence in contemporary pop culture, but because I believe they will allow me to experiment within my themes of disruption and mischief in a playful and humurous way and allow me to use the iconic prescence of the character as the constant variable throughout all my work in the practical project. This will allow to be open with my approach to my visual stunts while still building a presence with my audience based on repeated appearances of the character, and the simple emotional connection we have with looking at them.

2.4.0. Research Conclusions Summing up my research I can reflect that this information though important in shaping my approach and strategy (explained in the next chapter) can only reveal so much.

This is partially because believe that this information will reveal it’s true value to the reader when it’s present in the city view. As with any advertising campaign or authorship fueled project situated on the street, I truly believe we can only project our results to a certain point. The rest lies in the eyes and opinions of those who we are trying to connect with in a specific project. It is my hope that this project will be able to penetrate the curiosity of city dwellers, adding a new connotations to a space they, really never payed attention to, putting a smile on their face, and ultimately and perhaps with the maximum amount of success coercing the dormant visual traveler within them to keep a keen eye on the work I am putting out there. In my research, I was extremely lucky to have the possibility to talk to Lars Denicke, one of the co-founders of Pictoplasma as my point of view in the research process is greatly indebted to our conversation and his

reading list which he provided me. This list which included a lot of texts on picture theory as well as texts which took a more philosophical point of view on my topic, were not the path I originally envisioned myself taking in the research part of this project. In return for my trust in his point of view I was completely surprised by how much reading Heidegger and Walter Benjamin could contribute to my own actual thesis in a way which is relevant to the research and really fulfilling for me to read. Below, I have included my more specific conclusions on the analysis section in bullet points, so the reader can see how I have concluded on the various points which I mentioned during the course of this chapter.

• Cities are robust areas of sensory stimulus that require hierarchy in order to effectively navigate them without distraction.

• One way to conceptualize city travel can be found in Walter Benjamin’s concept of distracted perception. In his celebrated essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical reproduction he explains that even in a distracted state we can develop habits, and that our ability to master tasks in this state of distraction proves that our solution has become a matter of habit.

• Though these habits are undoubtedly helpful in getting through our busy days as city dwellers, this habituation of our senses leads to us gradually being less aware of our journeys around the city and gives rise to unconscious automatic actions. We take the same routes to work, eat at the same places, and shop at the same stores. This diminished awareness leads to an overall feeling of boredom, which we may blame on the city, when in fact it its a product of systematized, habituated movement through the city.

•Viktor Shklovsky provides a possible solution for alleviating this sensory habituation ( if only momentarily) in his conception of term called “defamilarization.” Through providing alternative perspectives and perceptions of spaces that would otherwise be taken for granted by a passerby I can generate new connotations and experiences in city spaces for my audience of city dwellers.

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• Throughout my case studies which contained both advertising and subversive media campaigns on the street, I noticed in a trend that crossed over both brands of communication.

The work that I was seeing either included an iconic visual language which was implemented in a simple manner or a simple visual language that was implemented in an iconic way. Identifying these approaches will no doubt be a big part of my own strategy, as I can experiment around them seeing if one is more effective then the other, or if a mixture of both is the perfect combination for getting peoples attention.

• I am curious about the possibility of public space to become an avenue for authorship and expression.

• I am striving to develop “Locative Media” in this project which creates a reciprocal relationship between people and their environment.

• The web could play an interesting role in my project by allowing people connect and share experiences of viewing the campaign, however, I am paying special attention as to make sure that it doesn’t dominate the means of my project.

• I have chosen to use a character as my vehicle for experimenting within the project framework and making mischievous discourse with city dwellers of Bergen. The rationale for the decision stands on the following points: a. Characters are focused solely on eye contact, on triggering a simple process of communication. Unlike other graphic devices, they can stand alone, removed from their original context and still have an effect on people. b. Picture theory and the discourse of the ‘pictorial’ or ‘iconic turn’ have continually pointed to the animist quality of the image and its dependence on being transmitted via the pictures. I believe that characters play on what W.J.T Mitchell identifies as our “double consciousness” of pictures. We react to them as if they were alive, talking about their persuasive power only to in the next moment regard that they are really quite powerless to do anything without he cooperation of their beholders..

Section Three

3.0 Character Creation The first task in this project is the creation of a character, which is underdeveloped and putting it out on the street in a way that is constantly evolving. The rationale for leaving this character in a constant state of flux is connected deeply into the research I presented in the last chapter. If I were to keep the look of the character completely the same all the way through the project then I would risk it becoming a “normal” sight on the walls in Bergen, thus making it victim to habituation. To avoid this this continual evolution of this character will bolster the curiosity around this character. Keeping that in mind, a state of flux in the campaign will occur based on two variables: A. Proportions: The shape of the actual character, meaning the proportions of it’s body, it’s characteristics and it’s expression.

B. Format: By utilizing different print formats, such as the poster, stickers and flyers and booklets, as well as experimenting with solutions that could possibly be sculptural, and include motion.

To me this strategy not only emphasizes the values of the research, but encourages my experiementation with different mediums during the course of the project. It also, allows me from an observational point of view to see with my own eyes how my audience reacts to different itterations of the character, in proportion and format.

3.1 Building Prescence If I were to continually be changing all the parts of this project, then I would sacrifice my ability to build a prescence among my audience. So in order to create an identity that people can always relate back to my project, I have chosen to keep the facial features, and shape of the head of the character always relatively the same. The head of the character will serve much like a logo for the project, staying consistent, building prescence and serving as a beacon for the core values of the project.

3.2 Pilot Project.

The Pilot project will serve as a way for me to experiment

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with the character and it’s visual language, in city space of Bergen. I will be testing out concepts which were sparked by my research and keeping a log which collects my observations of the public and their reactions to the work. This pilot project will continue indefinitely untill the exhibition in April and from their I will be able to develop my observations into a final happening which takes place at the final exhibition.

3.3 Campaign Approach Based on case studies conducted on relevant outside projects done during the research phase I was able to identify two trends in visual communication projects out on the street which allowed them to gain noteriety and make contact with their audiences. These approaches which were highlighted in the last chapter are: A. An iconic visual language with a simple implementation.

B .A simple visual language with an iconic implementation.

In my project I will be exploring these two approaches in my visual stunts around the city. I will be curious as to if one yields better results and how pursuing both will leave me open to make mistakes and sculpt my own approach to the final exhibition.

3.4 Intentions • To create a project that stimulates curiosity in the city space.

Coercing city dwellers to stop and take notice of it. The measure of success for me can be as much as little as a smile and as much as them keeping a continually eye out for further appearances of the project in the city.

• Add new connotations and experiences to the city of Bergen.

The stunts should strive to add new features to the space they are present in, either transforming the perception of it or commenting on the current state of it.

•The work shouldn’t just be confined to the walls of the city.

I have earlier noted my concerns about this project being regarded as simply another shallow street art project. My aim is to make solutions that not only appear on the wall but utilize

of the print formats such as small booklets and brochures as well using some materials, that take the project into other territories such as animation or sculpture.

• Finally, the work should embrace themes of humor, mischief and mystery in it’s contact. I am looking to make people smile and to spark their curiosity and wonder about what they are seeing in the public spaces in Bergen. Through this the goal is to make them see their everyday environments from a different perspective.

3.5 Methods My process for this project, will include several methods which are highlighted below: • Experimentation with the subject matter, and character is held in the highest regard. Therefore sketching and idea development is a constant and intregal part of the process.

• Practical application of the work in the environment in the form of the pilot project in order to gain real world observations of the work and sculpt my further decisions in the project.

• Narrative will be utilized in a freeform way, based on observations made by me regarding the publics reception of the work.

• Disruption and Mischief will be used as thematic devices for which to comment on the surroundings.

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Section Four Selected Inspration

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Rainbow City New York | Highline Park, NYC 2011

As artists working in a variety of mediums, including paintings, sculpture, large-scale experiential installations, public playgrounds, published works and live performances, FriendsWithYou’s mission is to affect world culture by cultivating special moments of spiritual awareness and powerful, joyous interaction.

Friendswithyou is a design collective that took the cast of characters that they were creating and began making installations in public space. Rainbow city a public installation they made in Manhattan during the summer of 2011. This installation utilized large inflatables of the duo’s characters, which seemed to jubilantly creep out of skyline of New York. The decision to use large inflatables was fantastic, as the slight summer breeze emphasized the imaginative quality of these characters who stood over you. The collectives use of scale on this project, and the other public installations which they have created was a big inspiration to me. It’s one thing to see a really interesting character on a wall street side, however, when it is blown up to a larger than life scale and takes on a sculptural quality which really creates a spectacle in public space. An installation like this It renders even the most mature adult into a curious child once again, engaging them to touch and explore the character in a way that would never be possible.

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Kate Moss Photogtraph for Calvin Klein (affected by KAWS) | Highline Park, NYC 2011

Artist KAWS has achieved extreme success in a number of different avenues of visual arts including graffiti, designer toys, a clothing line, and the blue chip art circuit.

KAWS a.k.a. Brian Donnelly started doing graffiti in the early 90’s much like a lot of other graffiti artists, utilizing a tag of his name on walls. However, Donnelly eventually branched out into stealing posters from advertising spaces and painting his characters onto them before replacing them back into their original environment. I think this was a succesful technique because by forcing the collaboration with the original photograph he gained noteriety not only for his distinct style but based off of the high profile visibility of the original image. This sort of parasitic relationship that KAWS created with the original advertisements was inspiring to me and definitely influenced some of my ideas, for stickers and poster executions in the pilot project.

The recontextualization of the character in the photographic advertisment draws a lot of curiosity based on the contrast between the realism and the bubbly cartoon influenced characters. This sort of recontextualization could potentially gain the eyes of people who wouldn’t maybe be interested in the campaign in the first place, causing them to be curious about where the character came from and what it’s intentions are invading the advertisement.

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Various examples from the Nonsene Poem Series | London, UK

Bradbury’s nonsense posters were placed all over to London and were meant to blend in with the hoards of other event flyers stuck up around the city.

Bradbury self initiated a project called Nonsense Poems a few years ago in which he took a bunch of comedic,nonsensical poems that he wrote and designed them to look like concert flyers and posters that are littered around London. Though these posters would blend in to a certain extent, the lucky person who decided to actually read the posters, would no doubt be grinning ear to ear. I really was interested in this project, because unlike a lot of the other inspiration I have had throughout this project, the executions here are much more subtle. I’m not sure that a project like mind could suceed solely off of an approach like the one Bradbury includes here, but playing with standard hiearchy of the design, and changing the information to be quite absurd and nonsensical is something that I think could be a very interesting avenue to explore in my experiments during the pilot project.

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