Guerrilla Art

Last Saturday, Poster Boy hit London for the launch of his book “The War of Art” and to promote his defense fund for urban artists (K.A.R.A.T.E.) at Pure Evil Gallery. The book documents his ad-alterations in New York City’s subway and shows some interesting collaborations with other street artists. It’s highly interesting because it also introduces you to the politically background (keywords are ad-busting, public space and artistic freedom)… The earnings will be used to support the “Kids Are Really Against The Empire” (K.A.R.A.T.E.) defense fund for urban artists. The people behind the idea of helping protect and defend artists working in public space are currently considering applying for 501(c)(3) status, which means to become a non-profit organisation in the U.S.A… ...

Amazing, famous New York based urban artist and ad-alterer Poster Boy will be in London on Saturday for the “The War of Art” book launch at Pure Evil gallery! Additionally they will officially kick off a legal defense fund for artists called “Kids Are Really Against The Empire”… Kids Are Rallying Against The Empire (K.A.R.A.T.E.) is a grass roots effort we hope to eventually turn into a non-profit organization. Sadly, when dealing with the legal system most artists don’t know, understand, or are intimidated into forgoing their rights. Artists are often poorly represented in court and do not have financial access to proper counsel. K.A.R.A.T.E. is committed to helping artists defend themselves in court for art-related crimes conceived in public space. (Poster Boy) ...

Unfortunately I’ve never been to New York City, yet. And for that reason, I had no chance to follow that thin trail of paint which goes through whole Lower Manhattan. That’s really pity, ’cause that line is probably the biggest tag on earth! As Nick and George from Brooklyn investigated, the paint trail - when you follow it around - forms a big MOMO tag… After requesting a meetup, MOMO told my friend that he accomplished this task by fixing 5 gallon paint buckets to the back of his bike, poking a hole in the bottom of the containers, and riding though the West Village, Soho, Greenwich Village, East Village, and Alphabet City. Momo made the tag in 2006. Some parts of the line have been covered up by roadwork and redone sidewalks but most of the line is still visible. ...

Another kick-ass example for the multimedia ability of urban space: Andreas Heikaus from Hannover created a state of the art motion tracking system to project a speedrun of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. along a sidewalk. My first idea when I saw it, was that it would be even better on whole block of houses…fantastic idea, thumbs up… This video was part of my Bachelor thesis at the University of Applied science and art Hannover. The Super Mario Bros. game, released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is not longer bound to the television size and get interactive with a new environment. The emphasis of my thesis is on the matchmoving work. It is the process of matching CG elements into live-action footage. (Andreas Heikaus) ...

Yesterday, Babelgum informed me, that they published the new, outstanding 60-minute “Guerrilla Art” documentary by Sebastian Peiter, which tells the urban art story from subway graffiti to international big business. “Over the last few years Street Art has established itself as an art form. But where can this street-based movement go from here, after works by Banksy have been boarded up, chiselled off the walls, to be sold on eBay for money far exceeding the gallery prices?” (Tim Marlow, narrator of Guerrilla Art) ...

Some days ago, I informed you about that amazing upcoming art project “Papergirl”, which will be held for the fifth time in Berlin. Its basic idea is to bring art into the public space in a different way than usual. Therefore, the activists and their helpers will pack a huge count of paper art rolls which will be shared in the public space after showing all participating artworks in one big exhibition. ...

Haha, what a great action! The New York-based urban intervention group Improv Everywhere, whose aim is to cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places did another great mission. They created a so called “Tourist Lane” at the corner 5th Avenue and 22nd Street. That “Tourist Lane” separates the sidewalk into two different walking lanes - One for real New Yorkers and one for slower tourists. Amazing! To make it work as an IE mission, I knew we’d have to add a performance aspect to create more of a scene. We came up with the idea of having agents pose as Department of Transportation employees directing pedestrian traffic to really bring the lanes alive. (improveverywhere.com) Before enjoying the video, please tell me what do you think about that intervention. Discrimination or useful idea? In my opinion it would be nice in some situations to have such a Tourist Lane… ...

The oil flows and flows and flows and no one seems able to do something. And also the pressure on the BP Group keeps within a limit… For that reason, creative people started to organize their own protest against BP and its negligently offshore oil-drillings. There are a lot of BP fake press releases, ironic videos and other creative works in the internet. The most recent I found today are nice BP ad-busting illustrations by Imp Kerr & Associates, NYC. ...

A spectre is haunting Berlin - the spectre of Mediaspree! Those of you, who already have been in know, that Berlin is Germany’s capital of urban free spaces, but for years the Mediaspree spectre is haunting the city. Mediaspree is a group of investors, which is in the act of building high office blocks and luxury apartments on the former free spaces in Berlin’s city. Some of the most popular free spaces are the non-private spaces along the Spree’s riverside (The Spree is the river, which crosses Berlin…). These alternative bars, beach areas and parks are so much part of the air we all breathe that we can’t even think of a world without them. For that reason, 30.​000 people (An overwhelming majority!) voted in a referendum against Mediaspree and its gentrification plannings in 2008. But nothing happens… ...

Dan Witz is maybe one of the most powerful street artists on earth. Since the 70’s, the master of fine art and public interventions is active on the streets in New York and other US-American cities. In 1979, he started his first large scale street art project by painting over 40 birds in lower Manhattan. In 1994, he wheat pasted about 75 black silkscreens hoodies and in did these brutal but also amazing Dark Doings installations. ...