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E. 20 IT. 20 PTE CONT. 20 D. 24 AUT. 25
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www.stereograph.com
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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. 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.
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We believe there is a better alternative to the passive dĂŠrive 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.
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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.
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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
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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 present-day 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…
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.
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10 Culture Jamming
70 Political Art
90 Public Intervention
130 Mapping your Reality
170 Urban Typos
200 Activism
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wooster
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spring
graffiti research lab
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graffiti research lab
http://graffitiresearchlab.com/ 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 nonprofit 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,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Currently my creative time is spent between Graffiti Research Lab, which is highly collaborative, and my solo work, which I release on my website ni9e.com. The wheels of the G.R.L. are constantly in motion but at the same time I still enjoy releasing non-graffiti experiments as early and as often as possible. Below is a small selection of these projects.
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Los famosos throwies de Graffiti Research Lab. Sí, amigos. Por fin, los tenemos. Nos ha costado un par de meses, varias llamadas a Nueva York y varios euros tragados por el Skype. Pero después de todas esas aventuras, nos encontramos con Evan Roth, uno de los miembros fundadores de Graffiti Research Lab.
Desde principios de año nos hemos interesado por estos geeks de la calle, que han aplicado la tecnología al bombardeo urbano. Con tecnologías accesibles, herramientas más propias de la ferretería que de la tienda de bellas artes, ingenio y participación, este colectivo ha revolucionado el arte del graffiti. Para empezar, han aportado luz, con el magistral uso de las bombillitas LED, en sus Throwies (luces envueltas en cinta adhesiva que se pueden lanzar sobre cualquier superficie) o el electro-graf, un graffiti con pintura magnética donde se pega un display de estos LEDs.
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Abiertos a todo tipo de colaboraciones y con una filosofía de “código abierto”, de difusión de las tecnologías y procesos que surgen de su labor de investigación, su objetivo es dar a los ciudadanos herramientas para reclamar el entorno urbano y arrebatárselo a las corporaciones que se han apropiado, de manera implacable de nuestras ciudades.
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En Ars Electronica explicastéis que tú habías hecho investigación sobre el graffiti, y que tu compañero, James Powderly, trabajaba en una compañía robótica antes de fundar Graffiti Research Lab. ¿Cuáles eran tus líneas de investigación en la Academia Parsons? La idea de hacer investigación académica sobre este tema suena muy interesante… Sí, en la Parsons trabajé en un proyecto llamado Graffiti Analysis, que era una obra de software modificado que registraba y representaba los movimientos y gestos de los graffiteros mientras pintan. Traté la disciplina como una fuente de datos más que como un producto final y trabajé con writers de renombre de la zona de Nueva York, como Hell, Jesus Saves, Avone o Katsu. Parsons Design and Technology tiene mucho interés en los proyectos sobre tecnología que interactúan con la ciudad. Josh Kinburg creó Bikes Against Bush (Bicis contra Bush) un año antes de que me graduara, y ahora yo estoy dando un curso llamado Geek Graffiti, que explora directamente cómo “hackear” los espacios urbanos.
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¿Cuál es vuestro background y cómo lo aplicáis en GRL? ¿Cómo empezó todo? ER: Antes de GRL, yo estaba acabando mi tesis sobre, precisamente, explorar el uso de la tecnología dentro de esta comunidad. Hice una solicitud para una colaboración en el OpenLab de Eyebeam, basada en este trabajo. Fue así como conocí a James y nació Graffiti Research Lab. James aportó su background en robótica, hardware e ingeniería a mis conocimientos, digamos que más orientados a la pantalla. Un día se nos ocurrió envolver una luz LED, un imán y una batería con cinta adhesiva, la lanzamos a un paso elevado y el resto es historia.
En el blog del proyecto, hemos visto varios artistas colaborando con GRL, ¿quiénes son los miembros del colectivo y cómo puede un artista empezar a colaborar con vosotros? James y yo constituimos el núcleo de Graffiti Research Lab, pero trabajamos con muchos colaboradores, graffiteros, artistas, activistas, programadores, compañeros de trabajo, estudiantes, amigos, etc en cada proyecto según la base de éste. Estamos abiertos a trabajar con cualquiera que le esté interesado y activo con la idea de utilizar la ciudad como su patio de recreo personal.
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Es muy interesante cómo lleváis a la calle lo que podríamos llamar filosofía open source, que nació con la programación. De hecho, OpenLab, donde trabajáis, se define como “un hogar para los artistas y hackers pioneros en la creatividad open source”. ¿Cómo empezastéis a sacar esta cultura digital y de código abierto para llevarla a la calle? Por ejemplo, compartís vuestros “descubrimientos” en el blog, en revistas, en talleres… Bueno, las actitudes open source hacia la construcción de objetos físicos ha estado siempre ahí, en la forma de instrucciones del tipo “cómo hacer…”, lo ves en la cocina, en la calceta, el bricolaje, etc. Lo que hemos intentado es compartir los métodos qué hemos ido encontrando, creando, para hacer cosas con tecnología específicamente en la ciudad. Crear y modificar herramientas es también una parte de la cultura del graffiti desde sus orígenes, en forma de marcadores caseros y modificaciones en capuchones de los sprays (por nombrarte algunos). Queremos que a la gente les gusten nuestros métodos de organizarnos, que innoven más allá de lo que nosotros les hemos presentado y creen nuevas formas en la ciudad que sean detonantes de cambios y debates reales.
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Hacéis un montón de cosas con luces LED, como los throwies, una de vuestras “herramientas” de graffiti más célebres. ¿Cómo y por qué empezastéis a usar esta tecnología? Las luces LED son un medio que los anunciantes han usado durante décadas para expandir sus mensajes en la ciudad. Son baratas, gastan poca energía y son muy visibles.
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Nuestro uso de LEDs es un intento de demostrar que cada uno puede usar esta tecnología tan simple para difundir otras ideas más allá de la publicidad y el consumo.
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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
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wooster
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spring will begin on the soon to be luxury condominiums. 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
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react 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. December 9, 2006 Wooster On Spring - The Countdown Begins 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.
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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.
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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 Lin-
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coln, 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.
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On Sunday, December 17th at 3pm there will be a panel discussion with many of the artists attending.
The location (as if you didn’t know) is 11 Spring Street (Spring and Elizabeth). For the first time in perhaps more than 25 years, the doors of 11 Spring will be open to the public. Our advice - Come early and come often.
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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.
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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,clouds...
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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. I suggested curating an art event in the building before construction began. 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.
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react 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.
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dan tague craig
foster
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dan tague 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 law-
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suits. 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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craigfoster 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.
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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.
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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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