(small) creative initiatives that challenge (big) traditional ideas
• ( egoistic ) • activistic • architectural • audible • cinematic • conceptual • graphic • strategic • surface • urban • wireless
Since March 2011, the artist Tim Devin has been putting broadsides (small posters) up around the Boston area.
The posters come in different kind of flavors: Street Surveys, Mappy Facts or Poems by Paul Johns.
Street Surveys ask questions that people can answer by removing a slip of paper. Mappy Facts show maps of data about the Boston area - income statistics, FBI crime stats, etc. Poems by Paul Johns feature poems by Paul Johns.
If you'd like to help put posters up in Boston you can mail Tim and he will send you a print-ready file.
And of course, if you don't live in Boston or in the US, you can easily create and adapt the surveys to your own city and language.
Related: Tim Devin's I left this here for you to read
• www.timdevin.com/broadsides.html
Sometimes it takes a small sticker to make a big wish.
The simple fill-in-the-blank stickers are created by artist/designer Candy Chang to help citizens in New Orleans express and share their thoughts on their community.
Stickers are free and can be found in corner stores, cafes, bookstores, bars, hair salons, and other places around New Orleans.
It is not the first time that Candy Chang - a favorite of this site - made a tool designed to empower people and communities. Check for instance the remarkable Post It Note Project for Neighbours, Tenants' Rights Flash Cards and Community Chalkboards.
• www.candychang.com/i-wish-this-was
Posted by Sebastian on Nov 16, 2010
'Measuring the Universe' is a participatory artwork based on museum-goers and their personal data.
Created by Slovakian artist Roman Ondák, the work begins with an empty room with white walls. Museum-visitors can help shape the work by having their heights, their names and the date inscribed on the gallery walls by a museum attendant. Over the course of an exhibition, the white walls gradually evolve into an collective drawing made up of individual pieces of data.
'Measuring the Universe' takes part in the exhibition Taking Place currently showing at the Temporary Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Related: + Appeel + Social Play with Clay
• More images on Designboom.
Ever since the introduction of the Danish discount supermarket Netto in 80's the color combination of yellow and black has been associated with the slightly negative sense of the word 'cheap'.
So Danish eyebrows were raised when the most conservative bank 'Danske Bank' changed its brand colors overnight - from classic blue/white to discount-colors yellow/black. The cosmetic change was only temporary and the idea was to draw attention to numbers showing that the bank, after all, is not that expensive.
Nice gimmick, but considering the buzz generated by the campaign, it is slightly mysterious that it was not backed up by something that customers could interact with and take action upon, such as a new service or product.
• www.danskebank.dk/billig-bank (campaign site)
Initiated and organized by the Dutch design duo Haas&Hahn, the Favela Painting project aims at transforming favela communities in Rio de Janeiro into landmarks and inspirational monuments.
Inhabitants are encouraged and employed by Haas&Hahn to paint their own neighbourhoods and houses according to pre-arranged patterns provided by the two designers.
The eye-catching project took off in 2007 with a mural in Rio's notorious favela and since then, it has grown in scale and ambition.
Ultimately, Haas&Hahn's dream is to paint an entire hillside favela that will turn the community into an "artwork of epic scale". Hopefully their dream is shared by the people who have to live there.
Related: Other color-landmarks by Dutch artists: BEUKELSBLUE and THE BLUE ROAD + The Austrian DELETE project
Grey goes green in central Rotterdam where the Parking Garage Westblaak is being transformed from a block of concrete to a green oasis.
The new parking garage named Green Park will be covered with various plants and the structure is set to become the largest green facade project in Europe. Aside from looking pretty, the vegetation will help offset Co2 emissions, improve biodiversity and absorb rain water.
The project's main investor is Christian Stadil, a Danish buddhist, businessman and owner of the sportswear brand Hummel. The facade is designed by local architects, Kühne & Co.
Socalled vegitecture (vegetated architecture) is becoming increasingly popular, not only because of its environmental qualities, but also because it can turn ordinary buildings into urban landmarks. See for instance the BHV Homme fashion storein Paris, Arquitectonica's Ballet Valet Parking Garage in Miami and Edouard François' iconic Flower Tower in Paris.
Pavements in some areas of Copenhagen have recently been marked with mysterious cartoon-like labels.
The street artist behind the labels turn out the be the City of Copenhagen, and the aim is to make the streets safer for school kids.
By following the labels, kids are able to find the safest route between destinations in school districts.
The system is personified by a cartoon character named 'Max'. Footprints are used to visualize a route and when there is a crossing or turn to make, Max will show up and point in the direction.
Related: Hans Christian Andersen footstep hack
• www.kk.dk (The City of Copenhagen - in Danish)
The SMS slingshot is a device designed to create digital augmented realities in urban space.
The device is shaped as a wooden slingshot with a build-in mobile phone display, a keypad and a laser. Users can type a text message and shoot it straight at a large facade. A projector pointed at the facade will show the message as a colour splash with the message written within.
The project is designed by VR/URBAN, a group of digital intervention-activists based in Berlin. They will demonstrate the device at various media-festival in the next couple of months. Check their website for dates and technical specs.
Related:
The Image Fulgurator + SMS Guerrilla Projector + Facade Printer + Graffiti Analysis
• www.vrurban.org/smslingshot.html + a demonstration on YouTube
Posted by Sebastian on Apr 17, 2010
The Facadeprinter is a software controled robot, slightly similar to a paintball-gun mounted on the ground.
It can print large images on a surface by shooting small balls of paint on it. It works from a distance of 12 meters and each dot in a print is about 5-10 cm, which is the size of a splashed paint-ball.
The Facadeprinter is created by three young product designers based in Berlin. The machine is not for sale but you can order a print at the website - that is, if you have legal access to a big wall. Check the website for more information and images.
As a part of his graduation project, graphic design student Christopher West is inviting you to pay him for wearing a T-shirt with a message of your choice.
In other words, he will be a walking billboard, promoting your message.
Every week a new blank T-shirt is put on auction on eBay. The highest bidder gets to decide the message and the design. Christopher will print it and wear it for a full week.
The idea behind the project is to investigate the medium of printed T-shirts and apart from the project's performative aspect, Christopher West is also producing a publication.
All the T-shirts will be exhibited at the graduation show at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. You can also see them on eBay, where a new one is added every week.
Related: Body Billboardz + VoiceVertising
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Contact: Sebastian Campion