August 12, 2007
Graffiti Research Labs Talks Technique
The New York Times profiles James Powderly and Evan Roth today. The robotics engineer and Parsons grad formed the Graffiti Research Lab in 2005 as a design studio focused on developing methods of urban communication. One of their recent creations is an oversized tricycle equipped with a video camera, a digital projector, a laptop computer, and speakers. The setup can be used with a green laser pointer to project light graffiti onto different surfaces. "The idea is to put the tools for unfiltered, unsanctioned public expression in the hands of those who might otherwise shy away from grabbing a spray can or a paint marker."
Graffiti Research Labs has done other eye-catching work around the city, including Throwies, which are clusters of LEDs attached to a magnet that can be thrown and stuck to metal surfaces. Powderly and Roth's work, along with others as GRL, is part of the Eyebeam OpenLab project. Eyebeam is a group committed to open source R&D with all technology released to the public under a creative commons license. The Graffiti Research Labs flickr pool can be found here.
(Untitled photo of GRL projection onto Brooklyn Bridge, by urban_data at flickr)
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I really like the idea of the tricycle. it's low-impact public art and it can be changed with a different sequence on the keyboard, I think it's pretty cool.
Projections = cool.
Spray paint all over town = bullet to the head.
Graffiti is a crime, a blight, and retarded, celebrated only by idiots who never outgrew drawing on desks in junior high school.
Shut the fuck up about it already.
^ you should avoid east Berlin then.
re: avoiding east berlin...and your point is what exactly? Graffiti brings poor neighborhoods down and invites crime. It isn't art. It's silly and its selfish and arrogant. Its yet another sign of our culture's glorification of the individual's right to "express his/her self" over the needs of others and the community. Calling it public art is a sham, because most of the public is against it and sees it for what it is--garbage.
i was wondering if instead of the words "BRKYLN" they projected the words "FAGGOT RAPE". Wouldn't that be artistic and thought provoking?
Oh you guests. So opinionated!
Graf is not made in a think tank.
What they are doing is not writing.
"The idea is to put the tools for unfiltered, unsanctioned public expression in the hands of those who might otherwise shy away from grabbing a spray can or a paint marker."
So basically, you're from the suburbs, white and don't have the cojones to bomb.
Nice.
relax everyone. these are just a couple of rich art-school nerds. what they are doing is very contrived and lacks the balls of what graffiti was all about to begin with. just another example of hipster nerds turning something cool that they didn't start to beign with into something lame and contrived.
"The idea is to put the tools for unfiltered, unsanctioned public expression in the hands of those who might otherwise shy away from grabbing a spray can or a paint marker."
Yes, I certainly hope people would shy away from picking up a spray paint can and a marker and defacing public and other people's private property.
The problem with GRL's work in "urban communication" is that it is bound to be co-opted by Madison Ave ad/branding agencies, creating even more visual clutter as corporations try to use hip "street" methods to deliver their messages.
what i think we must all realize is that the work that GRL is doing is empowering and at the same time is not opressive... how can that be a bad thing? i love the work y'all have been doing and I encourage anything that liberates the voice of any person without the detriment of any other.
It's just meaningless marketing.
It's the gentrification of grafitti.
Conceptually, it can't go further than Williamsburg.