July 20, 2011
From the artist:
"Both pieces question and explore our unhealthy relationship with junk food. Logos and brand identity have been cut from the original bus shelter advertising posters and juxtapose with Eyesaw"s silhouette figures to produce images of ironic truth. "Burger king" suggests that from childhood we are bribed by greedy corporations in an attempt to gain life long customer loyalty ignoring the facts that this type of food is detrimental to our health and leads to conditions such as obesity. "Unhealthy balance" asks the viewer to weigh up there options when thinking about dinning out in the city, it also suggests that we find comfort in junk food."
Posted by marc at 6:08 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 15, 2011
Posted by marc at 7:00 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 7, 2011
Artist: Dallas Clayton
Posted by marc at 7:59 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 27, 2011
"Last Sunday we brought the Exchanghibition Bank to the main hall in the Central Station. Including our personal bankers in their specially designed suits and of course our own security and gave the public the opportunity to exchange their euros into bills of Zero or One Million.
Yours Bankingly
Dadara
CEO and Founder
Exchanghibition Bank
Posted by marc at 7:16 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 7, 2011
Posted by marc at 7:29 AM in Culture Jamming |
December 10, 2010
Posted by marc at 7:07 AM in Culture Jamming |
September 20, 2010
From the WSJ:
"When British bank Barclays PLC agreed to shell out £25 million ($39 million) to sponsor London's new public bike-rental program, it envisioned the marketing benefits of seeing its sky-blue logo draped on thousands of cycles around the city.
But this week Barclays' prime marketing opportunity quite literally turned into a curse.
Londoners woke up Friday morning to find obscene stickers affixed to a number of the rental cycles. Attached to the bikes just above the bank's logo, the decals delivered a one-word message that, combined with the bank's name underneath, succinctly conveyed many Britons' anger toward the banking sector: Fuck Barclays"
Posted by marc at 7:04 AM in Culture Jamming |
August 23, 2010
Artist: mobstr.
Posted by marc at 7:36 AM in Culture Jamming |
August 20, 2010
Posted by marc at 7:48 AM in Culture Jamming |
July 13, 2010
Backstory here.
More from Imbue here.
Posted by marc at 9:11 PM in Culture Jamming |
July 7, 2010
"As most who live in or visit Lisbon and most southern European cities will know from experience, there exists an eagle-eyed population of women who spend their days keeping watch over the street outside their window, one phone call away from reporting any wayward activity to the police – in effect, functioning as an alternate version of CCTV in these neighbourhoods. So within Collective CC’s intervention – in addition to the clever re-contextualization of the role these women serve – is another great visual joke. The signs that Collective CC has secretively placed beneath these women’s windows is a perfect copy of the omnipresent Securitas security/CCTV company visual identity."... Scott Burnham -
Posted by marc at 7:50 AM in Culture Jamming |
May 22, 2010
More from Ron here.
Posted by marc at 8:04 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 21, 2010
Posted by marc at 7:19 AM in Culture Jamming |
February 27, 2010
Posted by marc at 1:30 AM in Culture Jamming |
December 8, 2009
Posted by marc at 8:23 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 14, 2009
Posted by marc at 8:30 AM in Culture Jamming |
October 31, 2009
If you're in LA, be sure to check out Dark Doings, Dan's solo show which opens next Thursday, November 5th at the Carmichael Gallery.
Posted by marc at 3:13 PM in Culture Jamming |
October 30, 2009
Title: 'Without Consent'
Date: 28th October 2009 6.30am
Place: Versace, Sloane Street, London.
From Laura:
"Medusas' punishment for being raped by Poseidon was to have her hair turned in to a head of writhing snakes. So petrifying she turned men to stone with a single look. Pregnant by Poseidon, she lived as an outcast of society until Persues came and removed her head.
The installation of Medusa outside the Versace store was to discuss the ownership of Medusa by the fashion house. A relationship between the single Versace mannequin within the store shopfront and Medusa also reflected the acceptance of what is beautiful and the outcasting of what is deemed ugly, by those that consider themselves an authority.
Medusa with her shopping bags turned to stone by the very horror that is herself reflected in the use and ownership of an ancient icon to sell goods."
Posted by marc at 7:59 AM in Culture Jamming |
October 23, 2009
From Rene:
"these days it seems shoes and clothes just aren't enough anymore.
i've always loved working in different mediums on the street - stencils, pastes, stickers, cardboard, wood, etc.. over the years you watch your works disappear no matter what the medium - from weather, other artists, property owners, etc.. anyone that does this for a while starts to realize that with more thought out placement, things can last a long ass time, a lot longer than pieces placed haphazardly. so lately i've not only been choosing my locations more wisely but have been doing things that attempt to blend in with the existing surroundings. i'm sure these alterations go
mainly unnoticed for the most part but for me it offers the same satisfaction as the other things i do on the street - it's all about altering the outside world no matter how subtle"
Posted by marc at 8:04 AM in Culture Jamming |
October 1, 2009
From Bess Frimodig:
"Bristol' Hidden Impact" project was part of the international printmaking conference IMPACT.
The Hidden Impact project focused on showing prints in unexpected places, as in churches, public toilets and shop window.These prints then formed a trail. I and my collaborator Anna Harley picked Great George Street in central Bristol. The work, which subverted real estate placards, was site-specific and developed through an on going dialogue with the people living and working on this street.
The images explored the hopes, dreams and anxieties people have in relation to their property; issues that are central to ordinary people in the current economic climate of falling house prices, the threat of redundancy and home repossession.
The prints were the same size as the real-estate placards and produced from materials and substrates found inside private homes and DIY depots, such as linoleum, wooden floors, rugs and wallpapers.
The aim was to create a visual link between the inhabitants and the audience on the street, evoking thoughts and feelings around what a home means, what it is worth and how much it costs or offers in emotional terms.
It turned out to be positive, involved and the formation of ways forward for socially engaged art, which started with simply knocking on doors, posting fliers, talking and putting up the prints.
Some reactions were unexpected- such as the protester against the family planning agency who mistook the 'nest-egg' placards for 'eggs for sale' and threw in the basement! The 'let by' sign held the attention by drawing people to the wall paper- only to find bugs crawling. A quiet message to the landlords renting out to students- according to the participants of Great George Street. To see is sometimes to think twice.
In conclusion, the feedback stated by person who was part of the dialogue through her company said- ' more art in the streets'.
I agree!
For more stories click here. "
Posted by marc at 6:45 AM in Culture Jamming |
September 29, 2009
Posted by marc at 9:57 AM in Culture Jamming |
September 13, 2009
Photo nicked from here.
Posted by marc at 8:26 AM in Culture Jamming |
August 24, 2009
(click to enlarge)
Posted by marc at 9:55 AM in Culture Jamming |
August 19, 2009
From Charlie Todd's Urban Prankster blog tips us to Total Crisis Panic Button, a terrific culture jam created in Los Angeles by Jason Eppink. The project inspired the photo below, put up by Ryan in New Haven, CT.
Posted by marc at 12:36 PM in Culture Jamming |
June 25, 2009
Posted by marc at 8:17 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 4, 2009
From Raphael:
"i get the trash and i show your sweats beauty and put on bucket of trash. then the returns the about to the trash thank you!"
Posted by marc at 7:46 AM in Culture Jamming |
"Bucky's Animal Spirit" is a clever public intervention disguised as an ATM Machine installed surreptitiously in a downtown office building... next to an actual ATM.
Rob tells us...
"I installed this video game in a Troy, NY downtown office building on May 1st 2009 hoping people would think it was an actual ATM machine.
I was quite pleased to see they did not want to punch my face off when they realized it was not an ATM at all, but an arcade game where they help "Bucky the Beaver" save money in the Shitty Economy.
Check out the full documentation here.
Posted by marc at 7:35 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 1, 2009
More from Vinchen here.
Posted by marc at 8:10 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 9, 2009
"In the Fall of 2008 I was pondering a few things. First thing I was pondering was the question of how ethical is it to sell someone a "Designed" t-shirt for 25-20 dollars? I found myself and to this day find myself perplexed about how someone has the guts to charge someone else that much for a "t-shirt". So I began to think of ways to distribute my t-shirt designs for very little costs. I came up with two ideas:
1. Buying thrift store shirts, printing on them, then charging a small amount because its used clothing
2. Establishing a system where people bring their own t-shirt, pick a design from me, and they only pay for the amount of ink I've use to hand print on them.
But then I came up with an idea that melded the two, a process which I'll explain in steps.
1. Buy 10 white t-shirts from thrift store ($20)
2. Screen print on them ($.25, elbow grease)
3. Return them back to the thrift store "
... Nick
Posted by marc at 8:38 AM in Culture Jamming |
If you're interested in the subject of Culture Jamming, Tim Jackson's new film Radical Jesters is a must see.
You can watch the whole film online here.
Posted by marc at 8:09 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 3, 2009
Before you can recognize the accomplishment's of those in the present, you have to honor those that came before us. It is in this context, that we absolutely love Erik Burke's most recent project, Writer's Bench.
Writers Bench from Miss Tint on Vimeo.
From Erik:
I recently installed a plaque at the Writers Bench to memorialize the Subway Graffiti movement. I figured, the MTA sure as hell wasn't going to do it, so I did myself. After going back more than a week later to see if the plaque was still there a cop walked by and casually said, "See that kid, that is old school."
We chose to honor the 149th St. & Grand Concourse bench where graffiti writers began to congregate in the mid 70's. Although there were similar Writers Benches throughout the city, this particular bench was the most popular and seemed to embody the vibrant and tenacious graffiti movement.
The project pays homage to emergent culture and physical social networking sites through a plaque and poster campaign. 100 hand-screened 2 color prints were made and distributed throughout the NYC subway system and the plaque was installed on site.
The plaque reads...
"You are presently siting on the most historic writers bench in all of New York City. The writer’s bench is an important symbol and historical marker for graffiti writers. Beyond being a physical bench it grew to be a verb in it's own right, describing the action of watching graffiti pieces travel into the station on the train. At the bench, writers congregated not only to piece watch but to critique, study, meet other writers, teach, sign each other’s black books, and discuss layups and yards. In a way the writers’ bench was the emergence of an unsanctioned free school dedicated to the tradition of graffiti. As time passed the writers’ bench evolved from being a great location for piece watching to a popular gathering place for writers from all over New York City.
Over a quarter century ago graffiti writers from the Bronx began meeting here to watch trains carrying graffiti pieces. This was an ideal location because it was where the 2 and 5 IRT lines converged showcasing work of the graffiti writers from the Bronx and Brooklyn. The bench began attracting more and more graffiti writers to the point that it was a place of pilgrimage for writers. Other stations benches became popular but none to the effect of this bench at the 149th St. Grand Concourse Station.
The first writers’ bench was formed around 1972 and located on W. 188th St. in Manhattan. Many writers’ benches flourished since that time and up through the 80’s before slowly being dissolved. Some of the most notable were the benches at the Atlantic Ave. and Brooklyn Bridge stations. Although the writers’ bench community has now shifted to other locations, such as online, these benches are remembered as icons that attest to the explosion of the graffiti writers movement and d.i.y. culture. "
Posted by marc at 8:05 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 1, 2009
For more info, on the piece, which was sponsored by Urbis, Manchester 2009, click here.
Or if you happen to be in Manchester, the installation runs through until mid-April, tours are also available by Urbis
Photos courtesy Paul Luckraft/Urbis
Posted by marc at 3:36 AM in Culture Jamming |
March 29, 2009
Had the pleasure of catching up over dinner last night with Dan Witz. It's great to see him pushing his work into new areas. His latest series - "In Plain View" incorporates fake metal grates in some very risky locations...
You can see the rest of the series here.
Posted by marc at 11:46 AM in Culture Jamming |
February 16, 2009
From Seije in Amsterdam:
"The image above is an oldie. It was done in the 1990s, but it suddenly occurred to me that you guys at Wooster might like to see it. This is an old water storage facility from the 1950s in Oostburg, the Netherlands. In the 1990s local artist Johnny Beerens decorated it with a 'crack' and some drops of water. I think it's awesome"
Posted by marc at 9:09 AM in Culture Jamming |
February 11, 2009
Zevs has just "liquidated" Google website. Check it out here.
Posted by marc at 9:52 AM in Culture Jamming |
July 15, 2008
From Charlie Todd:
"Jake Bronstein recently bought a toy vending machine off the Internet. He filled the toy capsules with ideas of fun things to do and started placing the machine in various spots around New York. For 50 cents you get the original toy, an idea, and a map to guide you to the location for your idea. Each capsule also contains a quarter, refunding half of your purchase price (the machine wouldn’t let him charge less than 50 cents.)"
Posted by marc at 4:04 AM in Culture Jamming |
(via)
Posted by marc at 3:15 AM in Culture Jamming |
July 7, 2008
Artist: FinalFrontier
Posted by marc at 8:43 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 25, 2008
You can see more of Spector's work here.
Posted by marc at 7:36 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 23, 2008
Posted by marc at 7:03 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 24, 2008
Posted by marc at 8:20 AM in Culture Jamming |
March 12, 2008
Posted by marc at 7:45 AM in Culture Jamming |
March 8, 2008
Posted by marc at 2:54 PM in Culture Jamming |
February 15, 2008
Posted by marc at 8:11 AM in Culture Jamming |
February 13, 2008
From ZAST:
"In Berlin subways you have all these tv commercials. I decided to break this boring information and broadcast ZAST TV."
Posted by marc at 7:46 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 4, 2008
From Wired:
"Renegade artist and head-hunter the Decapitator has been bombarding the streets of London with a signature style of graffiti tag - eerily removing the heads from major adverts around town, replacing them with ghastly, gory stumps. (Before and after images of a gruesomely guillotined model in a print ad, right).
Based on the images uploaded to his/her Flickr stream, "The East London Decapitator" as he/she has been dubbed, is largely striking mainstream advertisements, like this (my personal fav) High School Musical 2 poster."
Posted by marc at 1:46 PM in Culture Jamming |
November 22, 2007
"Hello,
this is a project that we did. Three interactive billboards against advertisment. First one is interactive with the environment as it only works with the one next to it. Second is a trivial joke from the elementary school but also gives a new meaning when written on a billboard. It's interactive with the bystanders. And the third one..sometimes is better that the picture don't work..especially in advertisment. Its interactiveness lies in the
media(billboard) itself as the picture doesn't appear. Although provoking, our purpose was putting a smile on peoples faces.
cheers,
ZEK crew
Slovenia
Posted by marc at 9:07 AM in Culture Jamming |
(Thanks, Lott)
Posted by marc at 8:58 AM in Culture Jamming |
October 31, 2007
Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Location: East London
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
You can see more images from Dan's "Do Not Enter" series here and on his website.
Posted by marc at 7:28 AM in Culture Jamming |
September 27, 2007
"The project was based on the theory of magical thinking, looking at belief systems and idol worship, and creating an intervention that like other work I have installed, plays with the viewers perception and with any luck(;-)) creates a pause for thought!
The 'headstones' were made from polystyrene, plaster and spraypaint.".. Laura
(Note from Wooster: Laura is the artist behind the amazing Damien Hirst Skull prank that we featured on the site a while back. Until now she's gone uncredited and we're thrilled to let you know who was behind it)
Laura Keeble
Posted by marc at 7:58 AM in Culture Jamming |
July 12, 2007
Placed outside of the White Cube Gallery Masons yard at 3.30 am on Sunday night in response to the Damien Hirst's "For The Love of God" diamond skull exhibition.
The "For the Love of God" prank was created using 6522 Swarovski crystals
and took Laura, the artist, a month to create.
Posted by marc at 7:21 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 18, 2007
Kathrin writes: "i send you this picture of a faked telephone box in Dortmund, Germany. It seems that the artist created it specially for this place. He added the address of the house where he put it: neuer graben 67.
When i saw it the first time, i liked it immediately, because the "telephone box" seems to stand by with the little stationery shop which is there since many years, but has less and less customers because of big stores in the City Centre. now with the imaginary telephone box seemed to be underlined the function of the shop as a point of reference for the quarter."
Posted by marc at 6:21 AM in Culture Jamming |
June 7, 2007
Seen in Columbus Ohio
Artist: Vinchen
Posted by marc at 6:30 AM in Culture Jamming |
May 14, 2007
Posted by marc at 7:17 AM in Culture Jamming |
May 10, 2007
100 years after his death, Anton Chekov speaks at a Barnes and Noble.
You can read the story behind the event here.
Posted by marc at 7:49 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 20, 2007
On Sunday 1st April. artist and activist Will St. Leger placed 100 fake 'landmines' made from stenciled metal plates in park around Dublin, Ireland.
Will explains: "The reason for doing this was to get people asking themselves "what if the world I walked in was littered with landmines?" They're nearly all gone now, the Police took away most of them when a tourist called the emergency number to report 'Landmines'. Afterwards, I wondered who the people of Laos, Cambodia and Iraq gonna call when they step on real landmine?"
Posted by marc at 6:43 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 16, 2007
Recently the Columbus, Ohio Hilton Hotel exhibited the work of Vinchen, albeit unknowingly.
The artist tells us - "The Hilton Hotel presents itself as a paragon of excellence and class. The brand's image badly needed updating."
Posted by marc at 6:51 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 13, 2007
From Laura:
"I'm currently looking in to the world of magical thinking, that of belief systems be it regarding religion, superstition, obsessive disorders and advertising, each of which controls the thinking of an individual by potentially negative assumptions i.e I am not worthy/guilt/sin/ideals.
I have been looking at stained glass windows and how they are installed to let only sacred light through them in to the vacinity of the holy area, whilst depicting holy scenes or preaching holy scripture as to how one should behave and live their life, this in turn had me look at billboards and how they too preach 'scripture' and depict how one should behave and live their life. So to the job in hand I set out for my first project : to transform a bus shelter billboard (lit at night) to a stained glass window as
a comparison between the two 'sacred lights'"
Posted by marc at 7:32 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 10, 2007
From Lee:
"After that crazy guy skied down the Angel tube escalator we thought we'd add to the fun - with No Skiing stickers.
Posted by marc at 7:10 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 2, 2007
Posted by marc at 6:56 AM in Culture Jamming |
"Pixelator is an unauthorized on-going video art performance collaboration with the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, Clear Channel Communications, and its selected artists.
Since 2003, the MTA has made available for exhibition purposes 80 LED screens located at subway entrances across New York City. Unfortunately, the high cost of exhibiting (an estimated $274,000 per month per screen) prevents most artists from having access to these facilities. While the MTA's effort to create more opportunities for video art exhibition in public spaces is to be commended, selected works remain wholly fixated on commercial goods and media conglomerate events, a short-sighted curatorial choice that regrettably ignores the full potential of these promising exhibition spaces.
In an attempt to broaden the scope of MTA's video art series, Pixelator takes video pieces currently on display and diffuses them into a pleasant array of 45 blinking, color-changing squares. Since the project is an anonymous collaboration, the resulting video is almost entirely unplanned and unanticipated, with the original artists helping to create new works of art without any knowledge of their participation.
(Translation: Pixelator turns those ugly, blinding video billboard ads into art.)"
See the video here.
Posted by marc at 6:52 AM in Culture Jamming |
March 28, 2007
"i made this simulated bus schedule near MIT where I work to show the incredible number of suicides that happen there, many of which are hidden from public record. by hiding the information in a bus schedule-like frame i hope it will be treated with respect, and let a lot of members of the community realize how precious life is without being taken down"..... leonardo bonanni
Posted by marc at 7:18 AM in Culture Jamming |
March 7, 2007
(Thanks, Zoltron)
Posted by marc at 7:35 AM in Culture Jamming |
February 26, 2007
"Nowhere in advertising is the gap between natural beauty and manufactured perfection more apparent than on subway posters. As we wait for transportation, we are unwillingly assaulted by larger-than-life representations of supposedly beautiful salespeople. The large scale of these ads and their extremely close proximity to the viewer offer up more than perceived intimacy, however... they give us the chance to see the mechanical flaws designed to correct their physical flaws.
Why don't we just see them for what they are? They are regular people just like us, they just have a team of retouchers waiting at the ready.
Printable cold sores allow us to take action! Bring these people back down to our level, and tell advertisers that you don't agree with their message. How can you help? It's easy..."
More here.
Posted by marc at 2:56 PM in Culture Jamming |
"Urban Flora is a project that aims to alter city dwellers’ experience of their environment through a series of stickers that identify objects in the urban environment. These "urban flora", such as mailboxes, lamp posts, and fire hydrants, are presented in a traditional taxonomy such as one would see in an arboretum or botanical garden. By defining these man-made artifacts in the context of the botanical world, the project draws attention to the presence or absence of nature in the urban space"
Posted by marc at 10:40 AM in Culture Jamming , Video |
Location: Columbus OH
Artist: Vinchen
Posted by marc at 7:40 AM in Culture Jamming |
February 13, 2007
It's the little details that often tell you the most about society's prejudices. An artist in Iceland got tired of only seeing male figures on the traffic lights so he put breasts on them.
You can see more of Iceland's street art on Margret's blog here.
Posted by marc at 8:02 PM in Culture Jamming |
As an art project about identity and safety in public space, a group of artists in Rotterdam put up a series of posters featuring composition-drawings of non-existing people. The artists were arrested by the police...
"At first they thought we were some kind of terrorists, the whole atmosphere seems to be so stressed nowadays. Most ironic is that we got caught because of camera surveillance. In The Netherlands we also have to wear an ID since last year so when we couldn’t show one we all got arrested. This is where part of the project is about! The police also found it very interesting to see how we worked with the composion drawings, it took quite a while before they finally got it. So our mission was quite successful!"
Posted by marc at 7:28 PM in Culture Jamming |
February 5, 2007
On December, 3rd of 2006 about 74% of Venezuelan registered voters went to the polls to exercise their right to vote. Approximately 60% of these confirmed their desire to re-elect, for an undetermined term, president Hugo Chavez. The outcome was easy to predict, everyone knew he would be crowned yet again, but the conservative media tried to convince us otherwise, and the government bullied and insulted the other 40% that abjectly and doggedly cast their futile vote. But I don't care about stats and numbers. I don't care about winners or losers, because in the end nothing changes, politicians crave power and are determined to do anything in order to get it. They'll lie and cheat, steal and manipulate. They'll hypnotize, terrorize, sell promises and buy votes. Prior to the elections and for an entire year all you could hear, see and breathe was politics. The city walls were emblazoned with political posters; The radio waves blabbed bullshit; Television channels blabbed bullshit; The pundits blabbed; The experts blabbed; The president blabbed. The political feud has been on in Venezuela for years, and I was sick of it. Sick of the fear, the rumors, the lies, the promises, the campaigns, the unrest, the
protests, the violence. Everything for the same reason, the same cause: the agglutination of wealth, the hunger for oil and cash. Ultimately I felt annoyed and betrayed, tired of the divergent opinions that led nowhere and the constant accusations that fled like missiles from one side of the political fence to the other. I began to loathe politics and the cheap parties that rise from it. I realized I didn't trust the system that continued to mock me, instead I wanted to mock them. I began to confirm my suspicions that everything is rigged, and I hated the machine and its spinsters for making me feel paranoid and powerless. So, I began the project of EL CARLOS. I wanted
to tell them: "The joke's on you and not us!". I wanted to use art as a protest in their own forum: the streets, were they choose to sell us their crap. To alleviate the tension they had inspired in an ironic, satirical yet concerned statement; To protest the lies, the campaigns, the media's message of confusion, the here say and rumors, the unrest they instilled, the manipulative rhetoric thry drilled into our conscience, for all of this: We gave birth to EL CARLOS. Me and my crew, the CCS.ZOO, silk screened about 200 posters of a fake political candidate we called El CARLOS. We bombed the entire city. We wanted to raise awareness, create doubt, make people ask questions, and change
the decaying and garish aesthetic that was eating away at our urban landscape. We created a poster to contrast the blatant and insulting posters that the political candidates used to pollute our city with their shameless pandering and constant groveling for votes. We wanted to let the people know that we don't have to be pawns, that there was someone else to fear, someone with a mind of their own, that there was
someone stronger, and that this guy was El Carlos. We wanted to create a stir and a reaction. We wanted to resist, we wanted people to look at another face, another name, another alternative. I didn't want to feel left out nor did I want to feel I was being inactive on the eve of the elections. I had an opinion. I wanted to act. Bombing the city
with our posters felt subversive. Run-ins with the cops who felt we should be jailed for committing subversive acts confirmed we were doing our jobs, yet we explained this "candidate" didn't exist and that we wanted to change the facade of the city in a jovial and artistic way, (which somehow got us off the hook a couple of times.) The project was born because of my love for street art and and a careful appreciation for the urban landscape. I was able to do it because no one regulates, admits or screens the work. The work is free and democratic and it can be shared with everyone, like I am sharing
it here.
Cabeza e Rata
Posted by marc at 2:24 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 31, 2007
Okay, so check this out. Ronen, an artist living in Germany, jams the sewage systems of his town of Jena by placing behind the bars and grates of the sewage canals, life size images of migrant workers and asylum seekers displaying their papers. The effect is stunning.
He writes...
"The viewers like the police/border guard will be able to check the papers explore the bureaucracy. Through different examples in different sewage entrances they can learn about the different kinds of legal status of refugees and migrants in Jena and elsewhere. The installation functions like a museum of bureaucratic legal papers, which to some people mean the difference between life and death. But the display does not last. Rain and snow, cigarette buts and chewing gum, and the rubbish of the city erases these pictures and the display of different migrants showing their papers to the public from the cities sewage start to disappear, just like so many people who already have. But the papers, the evidence of the regime, that will are with protection, last and will stay in sewage as memory of the people who we have confronted only days before."
You can (and should) learn more about the project here and here
Posted by marc at 6:53 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 26, 2007
We love how this artist turned some melting snow in the middle of the city into a wonderful little fish pond. Simple and clever.
Posted by marc at 11:39 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 20, 2007
Posted by marc at 7:46 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 11, 2007
Behind every piece of art there's always a terrific story. The intrigue about street art is that most often it's impossible to know who the artist is, let alone know the story behind the work. One of the cool things for us is that we often learn the stories behind different pieces of work on the street, and we then share these stories with others through the Wooster site.
So when we first started to roam the streets of Soho many years ago, we would always walk past these two faded globes with the word "Akayism" on them. These posters lead us to learn more about the work of one of the true legends in street art today, Akay, who lives in Stockholm.
Akay's work is similar to that of artists like Dan Witz in that they think about their work in projects rather than random actions.
This month a terrific book called Urban Recreation is being published by Document. The book tells the stories behind the different projects of Akay and Peter, who together are known as the Barsky Brothers.
The work that these two guys do on the street is extremely rare, in the sense that it truly goes beyond spray cans and wheatpastes to be actual architectural structures and installations. The time, not to mention the money, that goes into their projects is remarkable. The book tells the stories behind thirteen projects done in the last four years.
Using material they find on the streets, Akay and Peter take ugly empty places and turn then into these magical little oases.
For us, Akay and Peter are the type of artists who have the ability to truly change the way people think about (a) their environment and (b) what should be in it and (c) what are definition of public art should be.
One of the projects that we really loved was City Swings in which for two weeks the Barsky Brothers installed 65 swings in Stockholm for people to enjoy, all made from found objects.
If there is one book that you should purchase this month, it's Urban Recreation. We've included photos of a few of the projects that the book showcases, but to get the stories behind them, buy the book. We're told that it willbe distributed in the US by From Here to Fame (NYC) and Last Gasp of San Francisco. We hear that both US distributors will probably have the book in stock in February or March.
Posted by marc at 6:40 AM in Books , Culture Jamming , Environmental |
January 6, 2007
Back in November art iswar traveled to Miami and left behind a transformed elevator with the message: "Don't let society define your status."
Location: GOLD GARAGE near the Graham Center
Outside it appears normal, except for simple and recognizable placards placed over the doorway to each elevator identifying respective "HAVE" and "HAVE NOT" compartments. The doors open and the elevator on the right is a dingy, dirty carrier seemingly forgotten by all. But on the left, the doors open to a beautifully transformed interior yeilding wallpapered walls, stained glass, curtains, framed picturesque prints, and music."
The text that appears inside the elevator reads:
"This is not just an elevator; it is a metaphor for life. Everyday people ride the elevator to move between levels of a building. But elevators are designed with the status of the people intended to use the elevator in mind. The extremes range from extravagant parlor-like compartments for the rich, to shabby almost forgotten platforms for the poor. With this installation, it is the intent of the artist to draw out the black and whites.
Society has placed a border around the so-called separation between the have and the have not. It is our duty as a people to question this imposed rule of thumb; to ask ourselves is it right for us to accept this permeable doctrine as truth. We are expected to not notice, to let it slide, after all it is only a ride in an elevator.
You are challenged now as you exit this elevator to look for the hidden implications of everyday life. Do not allow yourself to be overlooked.
Posted by marc at 7:29 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 29, 2006
From the artist, Morfai:
"This is near the 'Kaukas' staircase, where FLASHER comes real. So its for him."
Posted by marc at 7:02 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 10, 2006
From Pete:
"went for a surf on a little peninsula on the east coast of australia, near newcastle, walking past the little church saw this poster, a spoof of the australian telecommunications company that is in the process of being privatized... "
Posted by marc at 9:38 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 8, 2006
Spotted by ToyRobot on the door of an North bound "R" train (Brooklyn to Manhattan)
Posted by marc at 6:51 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 7, 2006
Posted by marc at 6:08 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 6, 2006
Hi guys,
Last week dr.d hit Brighton & Hove on the English South Coast. The intention, it seems, is to make the world's largest comic strip, with several thematically linked subvertisments. We hope she pulls it off!
Posted by marc at 7:43 AM in Culture Jamming |
November 5, 2006
Dr. D recently hit the London Tube with a vengeance.
From Mother....
The King's Cross area is currently being knocked down, cleaned up, rebuilt and gentrified in time for the 2012 Olympics. As a consequence of this, a large population of people who live and work on the street are being displaced. Many of these people have crack and heroin habits and prostitution isn't exactly unknown. Rather than the authorities doing anything to improve their lives the 'undesirable' people are just being moved on to other boroughs that don't have Olympic sites. Hence the official-looking signs which dr.d has put up on several of the Underground
lines. Theses echo the well-known announcements to 'mind the gap' between the train and the platform and to 'stand clear of the doors', and are designed to bring attention to the public policy of ignoring the drugs and prostitution problem and simply treating the victims as an eyesore."
Posted by marc at 7:57 AM in Culture Jamming |
October 8, 2006
On September 20th, Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.ORG) placed a sign on a building in the center of Viterbo, the ancient city in central Italy, not far from Rome.
Looking closely at the sign, it says:
An Ordinary Building
This building was designed by an unknown architect in an irrelevant epoch and never belonged to an important person. The complex does not show any original architectural solutions, nor does it conserve any important works of art within. No memory is kept of any significant historical events occurring on this site. No known personality was born, lived or died here, nor is any excellent artist or sublime poet still working here.
Posted by marc at 2:42 AM in Culture Jamming |
September 15, 2006
SpaceHijackers.org is a terrific archive of UK based culture jams. If you're interested in Culture Jamming, check it out for sure.
Posted by marc at 3:43 AM in Culture Jamming |
September 13, 2006
Here's an example of the type of political culture jamming that we absolutely love:
Art the start of the Iraq war, the artist sweza, who at the time was studying in Bologna, Italy, manipulated over 50 "attention roadworks" signs in the neighborhood making the workers into undertakers using a very simple stencil. He added the words "grazie bush lavoro per tutti" which can be translated in "Thank you Mr. Bush for creating Jobs for everybody"
Posted by marc at 7:10 AM in Culture Jamming |
August 9, 2006
Posted by marc at 7:30 AM in Culture Jamming |
July 6, 2006
Zevs latest target: McDonalds. His approach: making the golden arches ooze a disgusting yellow slime.
Posted by marc at 12:48 PM in Culture Jamming |
July 5, 2006
Photographer: SimplyWithStyle
Posted by marc at 7:57 AM in Culture Jamming |
May 22, 2006
To learn more about what Dr. Gecko does in the bus shelters, click here.
Posted by marc at 2:31 PM in Culture Jamming |
May 15, 2006
Posted by marc at 1:10 PM in Culture Jamming |
May 2, 2006
Are You Generic? recently launched a do-it-yourself culture jam tageting the over abundance of advertising, and the lack of compelling content in commerical magazines. You can find out more here.
Posted by marc at 2:16 AM in Culture Jamming |
April 27, 2006
This is by far one of our favorite culture jam projects we've seen to date: Three years ago, Docteur Gecko found a new way for 'hacking' advertising that you find in bus shelters around the world. What's unique about what Gecko does is that his modifications can only be seen during the night when the city lights the shelters. However, during daytime the ad modified seems to be untouched.
Posted by marc at 7:33 AM in Culture Jamming |
March 27, 2006
Tweaking iPod are are not something new, by these customized iPod posters definately caught our eye. The skulls fit perfectly and even the earplugs are in place with a little drop shadow. The location: Wismarplatz (friedrichshain) in berlin, germany
(thanks, wolf)
Posted by marc at 7:37 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 24, 2006
From Zachary: "This Starbucks is in Boulder, Colorado is across the street from the University of Colorado. It was unmasked a week ago by Pope Bathos, and remains so. Apparently the staff of Starbucks is ignorant of the transformation. Or maybe they've decided they like the change."
Posted by marc at 11:08 AM in Culture Jamming |
January 17, 2003
Last year at the Free Biennial in New York,
Barcode artist Peter Coffin put together a terrific piece of culture jamming
that if you haven't yet checked out, you should. The jist of the project is that
you download the barcode stickers for free at the Free Biennial
website, then print them out onto standard sticker labels and apply them to
consumer products in the market. The cash register scanner during check out
reads a four letter word (have, take, give, want, lose, need) from the barcode
instead of the price."For more Barcode Art, check out Scott Blake's amazing Barcode art website. Don't forget to barcode yourself.
Posted by marc at 11:58 AM in Culture Jamming |