THE NEWEST BOOGAZINE ON DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY!
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credits Published by: Actar D Roca i Batlle 2 08023 BARCELONA Tel. +34 93 418 77 59 Fax +34 93 418 67 07 office@actar-d.com Edited by: Anna Tetas, Ram贸n Prat, Marc Mascort. Designed by: Javi Medina www.javimedina.com Visit our web site at www.actar.com - www.actar-d.com 漏2009 Actar Distribution All rights reserved Printed and Bound in Spain
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WHAT A PERFECT, PERFECT WORLD. So much order and planning, so many grids, routines and systems. Its mechanical intricacies are astounding and mesmerizing; it has a pulse all its own. Even now the soft, humming anesthesia of the city seeks to replace what thoughts you may still be allowed to have with white noise. We are here to guard against exactly that. As citizens, we obediently pay our landlords to let us inhabit the homes we make, and we talk casually of the atrocities that our governments commit in our name – so what does it take to end these absurdities? What new forms must we explore, and how can we assume them? How can we weld visual communication to social justice? The answers are as complex and as varied as the artists featured in this compilation. In honoring the libertarian ethic that we prefer, we've come together to applaud one another, and to provide a narrative about these activist efforts while simultaneously participating in them. Our work might be described as that design which must be done in pursuit of a more humane and libertarian world, and which claims that notions of freedom and ethical conduct are most poignant when communicated visually. Where mainstream media frames debates, our goal is to open them up or smash them to pieces. Where undemocratic structures put up barriers around our liberties, we are there to subvert them. Many of us have carved out wholly unique (and frequently noncommercial) spaces where we conduct our work, and explore alternative design practices as a means, not an end. Rather than sell revolution, or use revolution to sell a brand, we actively participate in creating that cumulative occurrence that is social change. In our line of work, we can find at least one common theme: influencing systems through design is central to success. If a designer’s work tangibly contributes to fashioning and furthering alternative modes of social organization, it’s working. That design which proffers what could be, and which prefers community and participation thrives in this environment. It's a rebellion against monoculture, and the editors of this volume are perfectly correct in labeling our work “reactive.” But it's proactive, too. Cultural production of this variety questions and dismantles dominant ideologies. It is in character for us to not wish for the reform of unjust systems, but to disrupt them and hand out the tools with which to skirt or dismantle them. We work from an unscripted reality, and alleviate (rather than enforce) politics. There is something to be said about this foundation that we work from, and our propensity to thereby create new channels of communicating. The spaces we create through our solidarity, while temporary, are autonomous, culturally relevant, and inclusive. Through our nonparticipation in anything we believe to be evil, we are forging another route. We still sense that there is a life to live, one where we control our own actions, and where the only pulse we hear is not of the city, but the one in our lover's chest. We see a world where people are compelled by their own will, and where no one is subjected to the numbness of being “under control,” because desire of any sort is always our own, and no one can take it from us. We are creating this world and dismantling an old one, for what better way to build a new world than in our hearts!
STEREOGRAPH REACT is already alive with extra and multimedia content, just waiting to be found. And now there’s i-nigma to fasttrack you to wherever you want to go. Fire up i-nigma on your mobile, scan the smartcodes below, and connect direct to extra contents in www.stereograph.com A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is derived from “Quick Response”, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. License QR Code is an open format - the format’s specification is available royalty -free from its owner, who has promised not to exert patent rights on it. The term QR Code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated. www.i-nigma.com www.denso-wave.com/qrcode www.stereograph.com
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INDEX OF CONTENTS
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TEXTS ON REACT CHAPTER I
CULTURE JAMMING CHAPTER II
POLITICAL ART CHAPTER III
PUBLIC INTERVENTIONS CHAPTER IV
MAPPING YOUR REALITY CHAPTER V
URBAN TYPOS CHAPTER VI
ACTIVISM
8|13
14|65
66|89
90|91
92|95
96|105
106|111
CHAPTER VII
ARTIVISM
112|123
CHAPTER VIII
HACKTIVISM
124|129
CHAPTER IX
CRAFTIVISM
130|171
CHAPTER X
GRﾃ：ICA POPULAR CHAPTER XI
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172|230
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STEREOGRAPH #01 REACT We want to launch the series with an issue devoted to reactive graphics: in other words, those graphic works that express a reaction to a situation of injustice or defend a particular culture against the domination of more global languages. Quite simply, it is a question of celebrating the critical or dissident potential of graphic designers and visual communicators, the effectiveness of their tools and the intrinsic value of their independent proposals, with an evident capacity to innovate and stimulate reflection. We believe there is a better alternative to the passive dérive of an environment so absorbing and asphyxiating that it obliges us to rebel against it, in the form of a reaction to the imposition of a uniform homogeneity on our distinctive local models and references, resulting in the disappearance of situations and actions unique to autochthonous cultures: scenarios peopled by Frankenstein-like hybrids fashioned from the merging of vernacular references and other, more ‘globalized’ models. We also find scenarios in which to rebel against social injustice, whose origins are in most cases political: wars, dictatorships, oppressive regimes... Of course, this is not a new phenomenon; such critiques have always found expression, from the old broadsheets and pamphlets to the present-day weblogs, but there is no denying that the latest high-tech tools have given a new dimension to such movements, far more global, with a much stronger media presence. Another, related aspect that we will be looking at in this first issue is the importance of the Internet as a medium of diffusion, and of the information technologies tools and programmes, graphic environments and the rest at the disposal of today’s graphic designers. All of these things have provided the basis for a huge variety of responses, from groups asserting that another world is possible and anti-global movements that oppose the present the system to works by individual designers and visual communicators who, moved by an awareness of injustices or as a tool of protest, voice their critiques in independent, personal creations that in many cases are not commissioned by a client. Happening in the world. Certain designers would be the subject of in-depth studies, while other would be given a more cursory treatment. Possible participants: Doma, Masa, Stefan Sagmeister, Jonathan Barnbrook, Kenneth Tin Kin Hung, Nuevos Ricos… In relation to the above, we would look at teams such as Adbusters, Worldchanging, Bureau d’études, moveon, etc., some of which would be the subject of detailed analysis. We would compare presentday groups, which primarily operate on the Internet as a platform, with more traditional formations such as NGOs or historic movements of revolt, and on this basis explore the duality between the activism of diffusion and the activism of action. Urban dissidence, culture jamming: Rotor, Billboard Liberation Front, Martin Bricelj, Joystick… In the field of music, rap and hip-hop provide a very powerful example of radical social protest. With their lyrics, groups like Public Enemy react against the system in the same way as graphic designers do with their visual language. Another interesting phenomenon here is the free distribution of music and texts, a concept that is being developed by Platoniq and others. Look inside Copyleft. The issue will necessarily have a significant amount of texts and articles that will both structure and provide a counterpoint to the more visual part. The texts will serve to contextualize the different sections. TEXTS ON REACT | 13
A ROCKET IS NOT A SHIELD IT'S A WEAPON
P.O. Box 910138 12413 Berlin Germany
loesje@loesje.org www.loesje.org TEXTS ON REACT | 14
FIRST THINGS FIRST 1964: A MANIFESTO Published writing by Ken Garland
We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, photographers and students who have been brought up in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable means of using our talents. We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief, applauding the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as: cat food, stomach powders, detergent, hair restorer, striped toothpaste, aftershave lotion, beforeshave lotion, slimming diets, fattening diets, deodorants, fizzy water, cigarettes, roll-ons, pull-ons and slip-ons. By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on these trivial purposes, which contribute little or nothing to our national prosperity. In common with an increasing numer of the general public, we have reached a saturation point at which the high pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise. We think that there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on. There are signs for streets and buildings, books and periodicals, catalogues, instructional manuals, industrial photography, educational aids, films, television features, scientific and industrial publications and all the other media through which we promote our trade, our education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world. We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: this is not feasible. Nor do we want to take any of the fun out of life. But we are proposing a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication. We hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes. With this in mind we propose to share our experience and opinions, and to make them available to colleagues, students and others who may be interested. Edward Wright | Geoffrey White | William Slack | Caroline Rawlence | Ian McLaren | Sam Lambert | Ivor Kamlish | Gerald Jones Bernard Han Grimbly | John Garner | Ken Garland | Anthony Froshaug | Robin Fior | Germano Facetti | Ivan Dodd | Harriet Crowder Anthony Clift | Gerry Cinamon | Robert Chapman | Ray Carpenter | Ken Briggs |
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FIRST THINGS FIRST 2000: A DESIGN MANIFESTO We, the undersigned, are graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators who have been raised in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable use of our talents. Many design teachers and mentors promote this belief; the market rewards it; a tide of books and publications reinforces it. Encouraged in this direction, designers then apply their skill and imagination to sell dog biscuits, designer coffee, diamonds, detergents, hair gel, cigarettes, credit cards, sneakers, butt toners, light beer and heavy-duty recreational vehicles. Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure, what graphic designers do. This, in turn, is how the world perceives design. The profession’s time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best. Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse. There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. Many cultural interventions, social marketing campaigns, books, magazines, exhibitions, educational tools, television programs, films, charitable causes and other information design projects urgently require our expertise and help. We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication - a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design. In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use. With the explosive growth of global commercial culture, their message has only grown more urgent. Today, we renew their manifesto in expectation that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart. Jonathan Barnbrook | Nick Bell | Andrew Blauvelt | Hans Bockting | Irma Boom | Sheila Levrant de Bretteville | Max Bruinsma | Siân Cook | Linda van Deursen | Chris Dixon | William Drenttel | Gert Dumbar | Simon Esterson | Vince Frost | Ken Garland | Milton Glaser Jessica Helfand | Steven Heller | Andrew Howard | Tibor Kalman | Jeffery Keedy | Zuzana Licko | Ellen Lupton | Katherine McCoy Armand Mevis | J. Abbott Miller | Rick Poynor | Lucienne Roberts | Erik Spiekermann | Jan van Toorn | Teal Triggs | Rudy VanderLans | Bob Wilkinson and many more
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CHAPTER II
CULTURE JAMMING
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BILLBOARD LIBERATION FRONT The BLF Manifesto
Jack Napier | John Thomas
In the beginning was the Ad. The Ad was brought to the consumer by the Advertiser. Desire, self worth, self image, ambition, hope; all find their genesis in the Ad. Through the Ad and the intent of the Advertiser we form our ideas and learn the myths that make us into what we are as a people. That this method of self definition displaced the earlier methods is beyond debate. It is now clear that the Ad holds the most esteemed position in our cosmology.
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Advertising suffuses all corners of our waking lives; it so permeates our consciousness that even our dreams are often indistinguishable from a rapid succession of TV commercials. Different forms of media serve the Ad as primary conduits to the people. Entirely new media have been invented solely to streamline the process of bringing the Ad to the people. Old fashioned notions about art, science and spirituality being the peak achievements and the noblest goals of the spirit of man have been dashed on the crystalline shores of Acquisition; the holy pursuit of consumer goods. All old forms and philosophies have been cleverly co-opted and re”spun” as marketing strategies and consumer campaigns by the new shamans, the Ad men. Spiritualism, literature and the physical arts: painting, sculpture, music and dance are by and large produced, packaged and consumed in the same fashion as a new car. Product contents, dictated by trends in hipness, contain a half-life matching the producers calender for being supplanted by newer models. Product placement in television and film have overtaken story line, character development and other dated strategies in importance in the agendas of the filmmakers. The directors commanding the biggest budgets have more often than not cut their teeth on TV Ads & music videos. Artists are judged and rewarded on the basis of their relative standing in the ongoing commodification of art objects. Bowing to fashion and the vagaries of gallery culture, these creators attempt to manufacture collectible baubles and contemporary or “period” objects that will successfully penetrate the collectors market. The most successful artists are those who can most successfully sell their art. With increasing frequency they apprentice to the Advertisers; no longer needing to falsely maintain the distinction between
“Fine” & “Commercial” art. And so we see, the Ad defines our world, creating both the focus on “image” and the culture of consumption that ultimately attract and inspire all individuals desirous of communicating to their fellow man in a profound fashion. It is clear that He who controls the Ad speaks with the voice of our Age. You can switch off/smash/shoot/hack or in other ways avoid Television, Computers and Radio. You are not compelled to buy magazines or subscribe to newspapers. You can sic your rotweiler on door to door salesman. Of all the types of media used to disseminate the Ad there is only one which is entirely inescapable to all but the bedridden shut-in or the Thoreauian misanthrope. We speak, of course of the Billboard. Along with its lesser cousins, advertising posters and “bullet” outdoor graphics, the Billboard is ubiquitous and inescapable to anyone who moves through our world. Everyone knows the Billboard; the Billboard is in everyones mind. For these reasons the Billboard Liberation Front states emphatically and for all time herein that to Advertise is to Exist. To Exist is to Advertise. Our ultimate goal is nothing short of a personal and singular Billboard for each citizen. Until that glorious day for global communications when every man, woman and child can scream at or sing to the world in 100Pt. type from their very own rooftop; until that day we will continue to do all in our power to encourage the masses to use any means possible to commandeer the existing media and to alter it to their own design. Each time you change the Advertising message in your own mind, whether you climb up onto the board and physically change the original copy and graphics or not, each time you improve the message, you enter in to the High Priesthood of Advertisers.
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DESTROY THE MEDIA
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INTERVIEW WITH PETER FUSS by James David (Groundswell Talks)
Peter Fuss reclaims billboards to examine and evaluate present, socially taboo subjects. He’s been a fugitive, a critic, and many other things. Chiefly a painter these days, his work comments on politics, the relationships between religion and authority, flashy religiosity, social problems, and art. Peter was generous enough to lend us a few minutes for an interview, after putting in some hard work on his latest project - a re-imagination of the Catholic Stations of the Cross, which forces one to think twice about perceptions of criminality. Groundswell Collective: For our readers who aren’t as familiar with your background, can you give us a brief rundown of your life up until today? Peter Fuss: I did many different things, many of them not even worth mentioning. Now I mainly paint. I am most known for works in acrylic paint on paper which I then illegally place in urban landscape. To do that, I use billboards which are plentiful on the streets. When painting or designing an installation, do you start by thinking about the social issue first, or do you put design first? Both design and content are important in art works. To make a piece interesting, both of these must maintain equilibrium and fit well with each other. When one of them starts dominating, the piece becomes boring. I favor work of artists who are able to balance both form and content. To me, it is not only important how an artist speaks, but most of all what he/she is actually saying. I am not excited by abstract works or excessively vivid graffiti with no message. Therefore, the starting point for my work is definitely a message, idea. You work illegally and commercially. Where do you feel most at home? I set my work in the streets because this helps me show my work to people I would never be able to reach through an art gallery. Besides, street art gives me unlimited freedom. I work when I feel like and do what I want. I don’t have to agree anything with any art gallery manager. I don’t have to keep deadlines, get my ideas assessed or consult my projects. These are the main advantages of working in urban environment. Of course, I also exhibit in galleries if I am invited. The precondition though is that no one will interfere with my vision. “My exhibition of January 2007 was shut down by the police on the second day after the opening and they seized all paintings, which haven’t been returned to me to this day.” I don’t know if that is a problem in the U.S., but in recent years Poland saw many cases of interfering with works of art on display, we’ve had interventions from the police and local authorities or pieces being withdrawn from display by scared curators. My exhibition of January 2007 was shut down by the police on the second day after the opening and they seized all paintings, which haven’t been returned to me to this day. I was prosecuted by the police for 6 months because of the contents of the billboard I illegally posted on a CULTURE JAMMING | 24
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fence in front of the church and the public prosecutor spoke to the press of the sanctions I could face. Then they discontinued the case as they were unable to find me. Over the past few years, you’ve worked outside of Poland, both in the scope of your work, and literally, attending more events in other countries. For the Laugh of God debuted in London, for example. What brought about the shift for you, and has it changed the way you work? Freedom to travel and taking part in events in various countries is nothing extraordinary in today’s world. I’ve lived in different places and all experiences I had surely influenced me, to a varied degree of course. But it is not a question of place where I live or interacting with different people and cultures that is decisive of the subject matter of my work – it is rather the times we live in that determines my perception of this world. The fact that Americans elected Bush has a direct impact on the life of people outside the U.S. Polish soldiers die on a war started by Bush in Iraq. Thanks to the media and the Internet, photographs of Hillary Clinton crying during the primaries are seen immediately in Poland and in Texas. The fact that Hirst exhibited his diamond skull in White Cube in London was known on the same day in Los Angeles, Kiev and Sydney. Many of the installations of yours that I’ve seen are serial. Do you set out to create a series of installations, or do you let the setting determine how far you take a concept? I don’t create series just because I feel like it. The subject matter determines it. So sometimes it takes a series and sometimes one piece is sufficient. A good deal of your work deals with the Pope. Why the fixation? It is not the fixation, it is a reaction to the reality around me. I live in Poland, Pope John Paul II was a Pole and even when he was alive the scale of his worship was really grotesque, and after his death it only intensified. Right now there are about 500 monuments of the Pope in this country. You can see the Pope’s images on mugs, ballpoints, or lighters. The cult of the Pope is a very particular mixture of hillbilly, superficial faith with a large dose of kitsch and bad taste. The Pope is worshipped and loved by masses. But to them, he is more of an idol, a superstar than a spiritual leader, as paradoxically they know very little of his teachings or Papal encyclicals. The cult of the Pope is a very particular mixture of hillbilly, superficial faith with a large dose of kitsch and bad taste. People prefer to have pictures showing the Pope than Jesus Christ. They are also much more sensitive over the Pope than Christ. In Poland, it would be more acceptable to caricature or make a joke on Christ rather than the Pope. The police intervened several times during my exhibition on the Pope after they were called by people that felt offended by it. What were some of your early influences? As a young boy I lived in a country that was not independent. You couldn’t travel abroad, I even remember the period when it was not possible to travel freely between cities – to do that, you needed a special permit, which was checked by the military and the police. The state-controlled television had only two channels, the press was censored and before playing a concert, every band had to have their lyrics approved by institutions which made sure that no dissent was voiced. It was not a free country. You could go to jail for criticizing those in power. You would see “graffiti” saying people wanted freedom, that those in power cheated, that TV lied. The form was unimportant – it was the message that mattered. Those people expressed their need of freedom, they fought the sysCULTURE JAMMING | 26
tem by writing politically involved slogans. It was their way to manifest their views and express their dissent against the regime. And they really risked prison. You would see “graffiti” saying people wanted freedom, that those in power cheated, that TV lied. The form was unimportant – it was the message that mattered. Those were my first contacts with graffiti activism. It taught me to be uncompromising and believe in the sense of manifesting myself, my beliefs and ideas. It taught me that it’s important to be true to one’s beliefs and express one’s individuality and independence, even if that might cause serious repercussions to me. Therefore, when Harring painted in the subway and Basquiat fulfilled his creativity on Brooklyn walls, I had contact with completely different type of graffiti activism Can you tell us about your most recent project? My latest project is a series of 14 billboards showing the Stations of the Cross. In the Catholic tradition (more than 90% of Polish population declare being Catholics) there is this tradition of acting out the Stations of the Cross before Easter. I posted my billboards on the Good Friday at the city train stations so people going to work would see different Stations of the Cross posted on successive train stops. But it wasn’t my goal to make people more spiritual or to promote Christianity among people. Christ was portrayed in the same way as criminals and suspects are shown in media coverage: surname abbreviated (”Jesus Ch.”) and face shown in a way so as to make it impossible to identify the person. On one hand this reflected how the media trivialize stories of individuals, but most of all I wanted to point to the fact which many people seem to forget that Christ was a revolutionary who challenged the existing law and order. Nowadays, people who break the rules and challenge the law and order imposed by the system are being sentenced and imprisoned, notwithstanding the fact that Christ, who also broke the rules, is worshipped. CULTURE JAMMING | 27
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ENVIROMENTAL GRAFFITI
MOSS GRAFFITTI
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Wouldn’t it be lovely if politicians cared about people, architects only wanted to create affordable and environmentally sustainable houses, tabloid papers ceased to concern themselves with the indiscretions of celebrities? I am the first to admit that I live in a dream world and one of my dreams was to create green graffiti from moss. One day on my lunch break at work I noticed some beautiful emerald green moss growing around the base of a bollard in the street and I began to wonder how it grew and why in such random places. A quick internet search later showed me that horticulturist's of the past had come up with a recipe to encourage the growth of moss to age and add interest to their garden designs. I wondered if this recipe could be used as an environmentally friendly alternative to spray paint.
RECIPE · Several clumps of moss · 1 pot of natural yoghurt or 12oz buttermilk (experiment to see which works best) · 1/2 teaspoon of sugar · Blender · Plastic pot (with a lid) · Paint brush · Spray-mister
Following a number of failed attempts I found that the success of the recipe itself can be very hit and miss and is dependent upon choosing exactly the right location and weather conditions; there is an enormous variety of moss species, each with their individual environmental needs. Although the examples shown here are far from what I have been able to achieve from pure use of the recipe, I have since received tips and advice from many people across the world and it felt like magic when my first design emerged in moss from the milkshake that I had painted. It seems as if others are now experimenting with the idea and new versions of the recipe are evolving and appearing across the internet with regularity. My latest dream is that one day I will walk down my street and discover a beautiful moss graffiti design that a kindred spirit has created.
step 1 | Moss can often be found growing in damp areas, between the cracks in paving stones, on drainpipe covers or near to a riverbank. Gather several clumps of moss. step 2 | Carefully clean the moss of as much mud as possible. step 3 | Place some of the moss, the buttermilk (or yoghurt) and sugar into a blender and start to mix. This must be done in small phases as the moss can easily get caught in the blades of blender. Keep blending until you have a green milkshake with the texture of a thick smoothie. Pour the mixture into a plastic container. step 4 | Paint your chosen design onto a location with similar conditions to where you originally found it (eg a brick wall or river bank). If you have difficulty finding the right climate in which to grow your moss, grow it indoors on top of a flattened layer of compost in a seed tray (where it can be frequently spray-misted with water) and transplant it outdoors as soon as it has begun to grow. Step 5 | Ensure that your moss design is kept moist by spraymisting it with water regularly. After a few weeks the moss should start to re-constitute and grow. CULTURE JAMMING | 31
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MUD STENCIL Jesse Grave
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I began using mud as my stencil medium to solve the problem of how to create a stencil without using spray paint. Spray paint is very toxic and can cause brain damage if frequently ingested. It is also difficult to remove from buildings. I have no interest in creating art that damages property or is unwanted. If someone does not like my stencils they can easily wash them off. I also ask businesses owners before I put a stencil on their property. By receiving property owners consent a street artist can created work that is wanted, and stays up longer.
Free Statement: Free can mean a lot of things. Hopefully this stencil means something to you. To me this piece is about how great it is to ride a bike. For myself commutating via bicycle means I am free from oil and free from the confidents of an auto. Sadly while biking in a city I am not free from rude motorists, and the exhaust autos spew. Beat Statement: To me, Industrial farming means agriculture on a large scale that typically includes the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified foods, erosion, soil degradation, and a general apathy to food quality, environments, and health. Industrial farming is happening worldwide, it is limiting crop variety, traditional farming methods, and the health of animals and environments. This mud stencil is a call to action. Beat back industrial farming by supporting small sustainable farms. Oil Statement: Why do people drink bottled water when perfectly potable, perfectly healthy tap water is readily available? In places without clean drinking water, bottled water makes perfect scene; everywhere else, it does not. It takes massive amounts of oil to make the plastic and packaging for bottled water, and even more oil to transport them. More oil is used to recycle the plastic, unless the used bottles are filling up landfills instead. Reusing the bottles is also a bad idea because they may leach carcinogens. Stainless steel, aluminum or glass water bottles work great. It is my firm belief that plastic is bad. Lets avoid it when we can. Grow Statement: The meaning of this piece is dependent on its location. I have posted it on both abandoned buildings and places I enjoy or find inspiring. Photographed with a child next to it makes a statement about the child's potential and the kind of person they will grow to become. Photographed on a building with flowers around it makes a statement about growing a garden. Share Statement: This stencil was actually commissioned by UW Milwaukee's union. Slightly modified the "Share The Earth" logo to make it a stencil. Then posted it in mid April to advertise for earth week-a week of events at UWM to celebrate earth day. CULTURE JAMMING | 35
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REVERSE GRAFFITTI Alexandre Orion
In the environmental movement, every time you lose a battle it’s for good, but our victories always seem to be temporary and we keep fighting them over and over again.” David Suzuki.
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SKULLS IN SAO PAOLO Welcome to the world of reverse graffiti, where the artist’s weapons are cleaning materials and where the enemy is the elements: wind, rain, pollution and decay. It’s an art form that removes dust or dirt rather than adding paint. Some find it intriguing, beguiling, beautiful and imaginative, whereas others look upon it in much the same way as traditional graffiti – a complete lack of respect for the law. Reverse graffiti challenges ideals and perceptions while at the same time shapes and changes the environment in which we live, whether people think for the better, or not. Etching skulls on the side of the tunnel with nothing but water and a cloth. Hailing from Brazil, Alexandre sees his art work as a way of getting an environmental message across to those who ordinarily wouldn’t listen. A few years ago he adorned a transport tunnel in Sao Paolo with a mural consisting of a series of skulls to remind drivers of the detrimental impact their emissions have on the planet. The Brazilian authorities were incensed but couldn’t actually charge him with anything so they instead cleaned the tunnel. At first the cleaned only the parts Alexandre had cleared but after the artist switched to the opposite wall they had to clean that too. In the end, the authorities decided to wash every tunnel in the city, missing the irony completely, it seems. CULTURE JAMMING | 39
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GRAFFITI &STREET ART
EXTRA MULTIMEDIA CONTENT
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GRAFFITI RESEARCH LAB Fresh out of graduate school and unhappy doing web design work in order to pay back student loans I applied for a fellowship position at the Eyebeam OpenLab, a non-profit art and technology research and development lab in Manhattan. The application asked for two work samples and a series of questions related to creativity and open source. I applied with Graffiti Analysis and Explicit Content Only, and based on the strength of graffiti and curse words, I was asked to join an elite group with three other hacker types with backgrounds ranging from NASA to MIT. The position came with a small but livable salary and health insurance, and allowed me to focus solely on my work for what ended up being a period of two years. Admittedly feeling like the wild card choice amongst the group, I quit my job and continued doing projects related to graffiti, open source, and popular culture. After 4 or 5 months I started collaborating with an ex-robotics contractor for NASA named James Powderly. James was an engineer with a tendency towards deviance and when he saw that I was using technology to create graffiti tools for the modern vandal, he quickly dropped everything and lent his engineering, hardware, and materials expertise. We made a good team and quickly came up with a simple way to combine an LED, a magnet, and a small battery into a new self illuminating medium for graffiti artists. The LED Throwie was our first big collaborative hit and it was shortly after the development of this device that we donned the name Graffiti Research Lab and decided to continue this strain of research as a team. Early on we decided the G.R.L. would have two main goals: 1) to produce and release cheap, easy, and functional tools for urban communication, and 2) to use graffiti as a medium to spread open source ideals into popular culture. All G.R.L. projects are released for free with detailed HOW TO guides and source code so that people can implement them on their own and for their own purposes. In an effort to try and trump the success of Throwies we joined forces with British artist, friend, and programmer Theo Watson to create Laser Tag, a system that allows writers to draw at a very large scale onto buildings in light using a small pen sized laser. It is to date our most widely utilized project, with activist groups, graffiti writers, and nerds putting it to various uses in cities as far as Singapore and as close as Rochester. With the wide spread adoption of the Laser Tag project we decided that we should open up the Graffiti Research Lab in the same way in which we had released Laser Tag and LED Throwies. When Esquire magazine approached us in 2007 and offered us 2 pages to do whatever we wanted, we decided that we should use the opportunity to invite everyone to take part in this project. In essence our goal was to treat G.R.L. similar to any other open source project; to make G.R.L. more like Linux. Today James and I continue to collaborate heavily and create new tools for graffiti but we are joined by a loose unguided network of hackers and vandals from all over the world. At times they work with us to create projects together, and other times they release work completely independently and with little contact. G.R.L. is the largest open source initiative that I have ever been a part of, and it's existence and functionality is a meta experiment above and beyond the individual projects and technologies it creates. CULTURE JAMMING | 44
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WK INTERACT WK INTERACT at Stereograph
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Age? 39 Location? New York Artistic education? Beaux art. How would you describe WK? Double kind, extremes, black and white, fundamental motion. What was the interest in art and what lead you to street art? I have been painting and drawing since I can remember and eventually the streets most naturally became the fora to convey my thoughts. What came first for you, your desire to be an artist, or your knowledge of the materials you work with? It is can only be described as a symbiotic relationship between an artist and his media. They evolve together, not separately. The latest street art movement has come to see you as one of the pioneers. As one of the first in the current art movement where would you draw inspiration? Everywhere, from exorcising my personal demons to addressing my conscience, although when I was younger I was focused more on the visual beauty ofmotion, and the portrayal of movement on a grand scale. How much of your work is politically based? I don’t really think of percentages of the political, I just express what I am thinking at that particular time, it may be about human suffering or anguish or about creating a beautiful form in motion but now the public seems to read controversy in everything I do‌. It may be more their response to a current global situation than to a topic of my own choosing, their consciences reading into subtleties in my work or just a misinterpretation all together. What does your work offer our society? To think. CULTURE JAMMING | 51
Do you feel the work you are doing is something that should be preserved? Once I put a piece on the street, I believe in letting nature take its course, I have no control over what happens. Can you describe the street scene of the early 90s and your work in those days? New York was dirtier then and I liked it like that. There was more space and freedom to place pieces, and of course I was one of a handful of artists doing this sort of thing. I think maybe the difference is that we were doing what we did for various socialist reasons and with the conviction that we were sort of outcasts who were satisfied with the street as our connection to the people. The difference now is that a lot of the new people use the street for the sole purpose to get into galleries and museums, and in that context they have managed to commercialize something, which was deeply anti-establishment. If not streetart, then what? Probably humanitarian/ volunteer work or mercenary for hire. Do you have any famous last words? Hope I can wait to answer that quite a few decades from now. What, if anything, do you consistently draw inspiration from? The motion and emotion created by the human form. What materials do you normally work with? Paint, paper, glue, wood, metal, screen prints, stencil and found objects. If you had to explain your work to a stranger, how would you do it? I’ll leave it to him to interpret. When are you the most productive? During the winter and darker months I can work 24 hours, no problem. Favorite trip? The next one. Music? Too many. What were you like in high school? A dark clown and a troublemaker, and a bit of a fighter. Where did you spend your childhood and what was your upbringing like? I was born in Caen, Normandy but my family moved south to St. Paul de Vence before I was a year old so I tend to identify more with the south. My parents were both artists and hard workers, a discipline the reallyindoctrinated in my brother and me. We physically worked hand in hand with them to build our house there. So hard work was definitely a focus for us. How much other street work are you doing these days? Just put up some stuff in London a few weeks ago. Can you explain to me a little about your GEAR project? That project was devised in order to be able to apply my work on the street in plain sight without attracting too much suspicion. It is an urban camouflage meant to blend me in with the garbage or newspaper delivery guys or the homeless. CULTURE JAMMING | 52
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JORGE RODRIGUEZ GERADA
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F. Javier Briongos Ibáñez
For some time, Andy Warhol has conceded to us 15 minutes of fame. That being the case, the prerequisite was to have an accident, be poisoned…That tricky media worthy relevance would not spare Marilyn, Elvis or Mao. Their faces were sufficiently important to be worthy of being remembered, reworked and converted into a treasured object or icon for posterity. Why is one life more important than another? Most Importantly, who is interested that we think this way? Jorge Rodriguez Gerada started making art more that 15 years ago in New York City (he is a Cuban New Yorker, and that is not banal biographical information added to satisfy the curiosity of curators in search for the exotic or art professionals whose value scale is based on the passport). We are before one of the founders of the artistic direction known as “Culture Jamming”. But lets go to the artistic processes of the Identity series, one of the best examples of coherence in art in the last few years. Portraits in charcoal (gestures, sketches? – not in the least) people, until now anonymous, scale the walls of buildings in our cities, in a format that we can begin to describe as gigantic. Yes, they are gigantically defying, proud, dignified. More social than political, with the measure that the preoccupation for one ridicules the other. Jorge finds his protagonists in the street, in the neighborhood where they live, where they are from or decided to stay. That they be residents is important. They are not an object troubé. Thus begins the true dialog. Mutual understanding, the reasons and the explinations. Then comes the final decision, which belongs to the local resident, to allow the work to be completed. But let us not be mistaken, the art piece is not the charcoal drawing. The artistic process begins with the search for the city, the building, and most importantly the person (who is sufficiently valiant to allow being found). Decide to be converted into a hero (like those of modernity described and defended by Baudelaire) monumental; a Goliath confronting the powerful King Davids of politics and advertising in order to take back the public space, snatched from our hands by advertisers anxious to sell us perfect men and women, and politicians that against all the evidence want to convince us that they are perfect. Risk your own likeness, the gaze, the anonymous life, to reach a popularity that is not paid (this is not Big Brother, nor any of the other loathsome programs in which we hand over our miseries for money). And this entrusted to an artist. Let us not forget how many times artists have duped us and taken advantage of known imbeciles and the famous that are not worthy of being known (of course, later they say that it is a critique, or whatever allegation that they can find in the great Bible of aesthetics. What defines identity, that fragile and inconsistent –but necessary- sensation of being? Its search is one of the most arduous tasks in life. I would say especially for an artist and particularly for Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada (I wont repeat his pertinent biographical information). His achievements, his coherence and the grandeur of the humanity in his work, place him among the best artists of our generation. Fortunately, utilizing words which are not my own, but that I cannot resist using (I am sure that the person who wrote them will forgive me), his “Identities occupy the canvas of our cities, populating them with the marvelous residual essence of it people”.
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WOOSTER ON SPRING
THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS December 9, 2006
The outside walls of 11 Spring St. have been a public canvas for local and visiting street artists for two decades. Recently the building was purchased by developers Caroline Cummings and Bill Elias who will be turning the space into condos. Realizing they had purchased a public gallery, and also because they admired the constantly changing walls, they wanted to give the work a final farewell. Collaborating with Marc and Sara Schiller who are long time street art documentarians and run the website woostercollective.com, they invited street artisits from all over the world to come and participate in a sort of final salute to the street art of 11 Spring. The three day open house attracted a huge crowd with people waiting in lines that snaked around the block for up to five hours just to get in the door. The doors are now closed to the public, and the renovations will begin on the soon to be luxury condominiums. CULTURE JAMMING | 62
As many of you now know, Wooster on Spring, the exhibition we have been working on with Elias Cummings, the new owners of 11 Spring Street, will open in Lower Manhattan in less then one week. The exhibition, a three celebration of 30 years of ephemeral art, will take place for three days only, and then all of the artwork will be destroyed. The artists who’s work will be showcased include Shepard Fairey, WK, Jace, Swoon, David Ellis, FAILE, Cycle, Lady Pink, London Police, Prune, JR, Speto, D*Face, JMR, Blek Le Rat, John Fekner, Bo and Microbo, Above, BAST, Momo, Howard Goldkrand, Borf, Gaetane Michaux, Skewville, Michael DeFeo, Will Barras, Kelly Burns, Abe Lincoln, Jr, Thubdercut, Judith Supine, Rekal, Maya Hayuk, Anthony Lister, Stikman, You Are Beautiful, Gore-B, Elboe-Toe, MCA, Jasmine Zimmerman, Plasma Slugs, Diego, RIPO, The Graffiti Research Lab, Txtual Healing, Mark Jenkins, Dan Witz, Iminendisaster, Rene Gagnon, and many other surprise guests. Questions to woostercollective Will the building be open to the public to view the artwork inside? Yes. The current plan is to open the building for three days in mid--December as an open house with panel discussions, film screenings, djs, and private walk-throughs. Because of the logistics, we won't be publishing the exact days and times until just before the event. Who are some of the artists that are painting inside the building? Artists involved in the show include WK, Blek Le Rat, Shepard Fairey, JACE, Bo and Microbo, D*Face, Maya Hayuk, Lister, Prune, JR, RIPO, Thundercut, Skewville, Elboe-Toe, Jasmine Zimmerman, You Are Beautiful, Dan Witz, Judith Supine, Above, Rekal, Gore-B, FAILE, The London Police, Rene Gagnon, Gaetane Michaux, Darkclouds... and many, many other surprise guests. 3. Will the artwork stay up in the building and outside after the event? No. In December and January, the new owners of the building will begin restoration and construction and all of the artwork will be destroyed. The only chance to see it will be during the three day event in December. Are you (Wooster) and the artists working with the new owners of the building on this project? Yes. A few weeks ago Sara and I met with Caroline Cummings, one of the new owners of 11 Spring. Caroline, who is a major supporter of the arts, wanted to let us know that she and her partners understood the rich history that the building has had, and they wanted to do something that celebrated the role the building has had in the neighborhood and with artists from all over the world. Sara and I suggested curating an art event in the building before construction began. Caroline and her partners agreed and the project began. Projects like this happen from time to time in Europe, but rarely in the United States, and never in the middle of one of the best neighborhoods in Manhattan. Can anyone paint inside the building? No, unfortunately not. All of the artwork inside the building is being organized and curated by the Wooster Collective. While we're adding new artists to the project each day, everyone involved has been part of the Wooster site over the last five years. Unfortunately, it's impossible to include all of the artists who we would like, but we're doing the best that we can. As we juggle space and access to the building, artists are being invited each day up until the actual event. CULTURE JAMMING | 63
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CHAPTER III
POLITICAL ART
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SHEPARD FAIREY "I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and I'm delighted if I can encourage them to see the merits of Barack Obama."
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CRAIG FOSTER Craig Foster in 2002 started creating a piece a day based on impressions from the news and it grew into an art blog of sorts with about 2000 images. The pieces intentionally add light relief to the political message conveyed. More importantly the work is an indictment of the direction that the United States is being taken and the ready acceptance of war and the notion that military intervention is an effective means of diplomacy between America and the rest of the world. Craig Foster has been an artist since the late 80's when at the beginning of the first Gulf War he began making protest art, never considering that the work would be relevant in the new millennium.
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GORILLA Since October 2006 we have made a visual column on the front page of De Volkskrant, one of Holland's leading newspapers. With Lesley Moore and Herman van Bostelen we form the collective 'Gorilla'. We respond to the day's news in words and images. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to ventilate our views on politics, the environment and all those subjects ones worries about, but doesn't know how to react. Gorilla won an ADCN lamp, a European Design Award and a Reddot Design award in 2007 gorilla-clusterbom The Netherlands is removing the clusterbomb from it’s arsenal/ 29.05.08 According to a new international treaty, one that has not been signed by the US, the Netherlands is also removing the cluster bomb from its arsenal. gorilla-eu ierland Ireland says ‘no’ to E.U. treaty/ 16.06.08 makes it clear that the EU is only as strong as its weakest link. gorilla-birma junta Birma Junta/ 27.05.08 Aid organisations barred from Burma gorilla- bejing Olympic Peace/ 08.04.08 IOC wants ‘peaceful solution’ in Tibet. gorilla-free tibet Free Trade Free Tibet/ 12.04.08 Dutch provincial and municipal administrators travel en masse to China. gorilla-thumbs up for mugabe Election day in Zimbabwe/ 27.06.08 Thugs can tell from ink on the thumb whether or not people have voted in the Zimbabwe election. gorilla-mugabe Mugabe hits opposition with violence/ 25.06.08 According to the international community, Mugabe is no longer the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe. He is using brute force and intimidation to wrest an election victory. gorilla-dieselprijs Protest against the high price of diesel/ 12.06.08 Protests all over Europe against the high price of diesel gorilla-we are the world Bush/Putin era is almost over/ 05.04.08 Meeting between two departing world leaders. gorilla-hillary level Hillary’s Clinton’s cashbox is empty/ 08.05.08 After Hillary Clinton’s call for a petrol tax holiday it is clear that the cashbox is empty, the mood desperate.
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CHAPTER V
MAPPING YOUR REALITY
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MAP OF TERRORISM Heath Bunting
Why make a map of terrorism ? It is unclear to many people exactly what terrorism is and which activities are now unsafe in the United Kingdom (UK) in terms of getting into trouble with the police. Making a map is often a prelude to colonisation and control. I have recently been under investigation and detention by the UK police for terrorism related offences. This case was fabricated by the Sussex police force, probably an attempt to frighten and probe me. My response to this, instead of seeking public sympathy and support, was to consolidate my existing links with national cultural institutions. Hence my proposal to make this map of terrorism, in context of an invitation for a new commission for Tate. I am still under state surveillance, but no longer under Her Majesty's detention. How to make a map of terrorism. My intention for this map was to find the borderline between 'the everyday', embodied by the 'high street' and the global terror fantastic. If goods and services are extended to people globally, we can expect feedback in return. If these goods and services are marketed by force, as for example in Iraq, then we can expect a violent customer feedback. Important words to consider for mapping terrorism and the market are both reach and crossover. I have been thinking that perhaps our asymmetric reach has extended too far and that the crossover of unequal cultures has gone too deep. Only the criminally ignorant can act surprised when second generation immigrants become upset when their adopted national state starts to illegally bomb their grandparents back home. Perhaps terrorism has always been a violent response to inappropriate intimacy, similar to bullying. What a map of terrorism can tell us. This map is only a sketch, part of a long term project to map the System. What it shows me at this stage though, is that the border between the High Street and global terror runs through the Irish Troubles. Also, that the no man's land of global terrorism is terrorism merchandise: Hamas t-shirts purchasable on-line (it is illegal to wear one of these in public), anarchist cookbook available at public libraries (recent events show that it is illegal to be in possession of one of these if Muslim). There also seems to be a fast-track route to full system integration, linked via 'able to provide current postal address': first step being a HM prisoner. In my research into identity, it has become apparent that institutionalisation comes first to those who challenge convention. MAPPING YOUR REALITY | 96
MAP OF TERRORISM
AZ TERRORIST
download pdf
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CHAPTER VI
URBAN TYPOS
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PIXAÇÃO by Choque
Emerging in the 1980s in São Paulo, pixação quickly became one of the most aggressive and controversial forms of expression to date, turning its artists, the pixadores, into one of the most marginalized social groups in the city. Constantly in search of adrenaline, social resistance and recognition, the pixadores enter the city center from the outskirts in order to assert their existence through bold nocturnal actions – nightly escapes from the social exclusion that weighs on their daily lives. Seeing as pixação declares itself as a visual challenge against elite aesthetics and also stands as a clear reflection of the city’s conflicted social context, the main objective of this photo essay is to question the social structures that drive a generation of youth to feel that their only creative outlet lies in the degradation of the urban landscape.
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WHAT IS PIXAÇÃO? Pichação is an act of transgression, a way of getting people´s attention by the fact that it normally uses non-conventional and non-authorized surfaces. It has no rules concerning form or content, although it may occur sometimes when a specific mark can be seen spread out the city as a stamp. The drawings and illustrations tend to be very simple, used almost as symbols. The messages do not get colorful, they are monochromed most of the times and the surfaces chosen are never authorized. On the contrary, they are always taken by surprise. Unlike graffiti, which has a clear preference for rough surfaces, pichação uses already used surfaces or places taken by another pichação. As a result, pichação makes use of the most varied surfaces as possible which include tops of buildings, monuments, museums and public spaces with cultural or hystoric values. Avoiding any kind of apology for pichação, it is important to see this phenomenon in a very impartial way. Despite being an illegal activity, it is an independent movement that leads everyone to a higher level of consciousness and criticism for the writer himself gives a city a new face by proposing a new meaning for it.
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PIXO ATTACK AT CHOQUE CULTURAL GALLERY
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CHAPTER VII
ACTIVISM
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T.S.A. COMMUNICATION Evan Roth
T.S.A. Communication is a project that alters the airport security experience and allows the government to learn more about you then just what's in your backpack. Thin 8.5 x 11 inch laser-cut sheets of stainless steel comfortably fit in your carry on bag, simultaneously obscuring the contents you don't want the TSA to see while highlighting ideas you do want them to see. Change your role as air traveler from passive to active.
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CHAPTER VIII
ARTIVISM
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DAN TAGUE
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CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME
The appeal and power of money are the issues at the core of this series. In a capitalist society cash rules everything. Society teaches us that you can buy love, happiness, and status through possessions. You can even right wrongs by taking away a bit of someone’s happiness through fines and lawsuits. Politicians buy votes through claims of lowering taxes, in other words letting us hold on to a little more of status‌ upper, lower, upper-lower class. Income tax, sales tax, and property tax all fund the war on terror, war on drugs, war on poverty, war on morality, etcetera. In fact, our consumer pursuit of happiness is the cause and solution for all of these wars. So in order to convey the allure of cash, I relied on the aesthetic qualities of the bills. Detailed decorative engravings, masterful portraits and architectural renderings, and elegant fonts create a decadent allure. I further the effect with folds and twists to abstract the imagery and create a collage of wonderful images. Folding the bills has another purpose to create narrative. The folds are precise and calculated in order to convey messages amidst the appeal of the abstracted imagery. The messages are political in nature ranging from local issues directed at rebuilding New Orleans with phrases like Unite NOLA and Home is a Tent. The proceeds of this photograph go to UNITY of Greater New Orleans to help out with the homeless crisis in our city. Other messages relate issues of terror and war with State of Fear and Hunt for Oil. While others deal with religion, God is American, and politicians, Trust No One. Then there is the ultimate praise of money in a capitalist world as The American Idol. ARTIVISM | 121
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CHAPTER IX
HACKTIVISM
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SKULLPHONE Flossy at Gawker.com
I’m guessing Foucault would probably float idea that the overwhelming domination of urban public visual space by the capitalist-propagandistic imagery of private commercial interests (or in non-douchebag terms: advertisements) is a concrete manifestation of the concept of socio-disciplinary architecture, which of course he explored in detail in Discipline & Punish (the Panopticon, etc.) Even in the beginning, graffiti culture has always been at least partly about advertisement--what were the first tags if not ads for the artists? Following this logic, even buying ad space for your own artwork could be construed as somewhat transgressive--granted, it’s not quite the same as tagging a subway car--or at the very least a noteworthy individual intervention into the mechanics of a largely impersonal contemporary visual landscape. Skullphone isn’t really “selling out;” after all, he isn’t selling anything except himself and his art (at least as far as I know). Do the law-abiding means of legally getting your art up nullify any transgression inherent in the intent? Who can say?! Advertising-as-art! Text message conceptualism! Where’s my limited-edition avant-garde T-shirt?! The Ecstasy of Communication! Do robots scream Bau-oh-oh-oh-oh-audrillard! when they fuck?! Parents, don’t let your children become barely-employed former art history majors.
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Stereograph is conceived as a magazine about graphic design and visual communication with a thematic approach to information rather than a merely cumulative treatment; in other words, the intention is for each issue to be devoted to a specific theme, which will be developed in a range of materials and formats: graphic projects, articles, essays and so on. The idea is to translate the concept we pioneered with Verb, our architecture magazine, to the world of graphics. This model of book-magazine has worked very well in the field of architecture, both as a tool with which we can research and experiment, and in terms of the commercial success it has achieved. “Qr codes are included with extra information in the website take a photo with your iphone and try it�