interventionsaka

street artguerrilla art

Interventions, or street art, or guerilla art is “any anonymous work (including but not limited to graffiti, signage, performance, additions, and decorations) installed, performed, or attached in public spaces, with the distinct purpose of affecting the world in a creative or thought-provoking way.”

Keri Smith, The Guerilla Art Kit

Marcus AureliusPiazza del Campidoglio

Rome

There have always been public art and statues. These are not ‘street’ art or interventions

THIS is an intervention...

Kwame Monroe aka Bear 167, "Sunday Afternoon," 1984

most interventions are street graffiti...

some graffiti is very clever and thoughtful

Todd Vanderlin: “Graffiti Taxonomy is a graffiti-based

study in which characters are isolated from a collection of

graffiti tags that were photographed in the same

geographic region.”

some, such as subway graffiti, can be extremely ambitious

street art has been around for

a long time

and has continued since

the cave paintings

kilroy, very popular among

soldiers in WWII, can be

found all over the globe and

has come to represent

graffiti art

legal?• usually not

so there are some RULES:

• don’t damage property• use environmentally friendly materials

NO canned spray paint!NO permanent glues!chalk is goodremovable/washable glues - wheat paste

and suggestions...

• some sites are safer than others:temporary construction wallssidewalksanywhere where damage will not result

• watch out for:security camerassigns that say ‘post no bills’cops

• work quickly and change location

while street graffiti—this from Paris—is what we usually think of as street art, or guerrilla art, so-called fine artists have also practiced

forms of interventions

keith haring began his career making graffiti in subway

stations, using chalk on the black paper which covered empty ad

space

keith haring subway graffiti , with audience

kenny scharf, art world star and entrepreneur, began

with wall graffiti and then moved to canvas

fab5 freddie

kenny sharf, andy warhol, keith haring

jean-michel basquiat, one of the great expressionist painters of the 1980’s, began as SAMO©, leaving thought-provoking tags all over NYC

jean-michel basquiat paintings

Jean-Michel Basquiat_Fallen Angel, 1981

Catharsis 1983 triptych, acrylic on canvas, 72-3/8 x 92-7/8 inches

"Untitled (Angel)" acrylic on canvas96 by 169 inches, 1982

many other artists, starting from inside the art world, wanted to move to the streets in order to reach a wider audience, escape the tyranny of commerce, and re-capture the freshness and excitement of surprise, discovery and delight

daniel burenpermutations: fragment 1-31973

daniel burenthe two levels

1986

daniel burenescalator, 1979

daniel buren ballets, NY, 1975

daniel burentitle?, 2009 art does not have to be paint on canvas, or bronze

Modern culture with it’s overwhelming advertising, mass media and endless information teaches us to tune out, to disconnect.

Small, anonymous art gestures can encourage the viewer to take the world a bit less seriously, to connect with something outside the

predictable.

Keri Smith, The Guerilla Art Kit

eleanor antin, in 1971-73, took 100 boots around the world and photographed them in various settings

eleanor antin100 boots

1971-73

eleanor antin100 boots1971-73

niele toroni (swiss, lives in france) has been painting using a brush on whatever since the 1960s. the strokes are all carefully measured and applied, always similar but not the same, and appear in unexpected places

niele toronititle?, date?kunsthalle, bern

niele toronititle?, date?

Guerilla art is for everyone. It engages viewers who might never step foot in a gallery. It is free and accessible.

Keri Smith, The Guerilla Art Kit

richard artschwager (a fave) has been making extraordinary things since the early 1960s. blps were (are) small lozenge-shaped drawings/paintings/objects which appeared all over NY and elsewhere, more or less randomly, over many years

richard artschwagerblps richard artschwager

hair blp

richard artschwagerblps

art can be done on the street and still maintain respect for the environment and for property. francesca pirillo lays cut-out drawings in public places and photographs the results

francesca pirillo

Richard Hambletoncreepy-ass street lurkers

Richard HambletonMary Cate Olson at a Hambleton opening

jr (a very private artist who won’t reveal his name or give interviews) travels the world producing temporary photographic interventions

jrsalvationbeirut

jrcambodia

jr2 pieces from the ‘women’ series

Brussels, Belgium (above)Paris (right)

jrkibera, nairobi2009

jron the palestinian side of the

israeli security fence2007

leo & pipoprinted paperfrance

banksy, ubiquitous outdoor art provocateur. banksy is the pseudonym of a british graffiti artist, political activist and painter whose identity is unconfirmed

banksy?

banksymurals on the security fence between Israel and the Palestinians

banksy

sculptural interventions? why sure!

allan molho, nyc

anonymous street sculpture

italy

anonymous street sculpturealtered mailbox

artist unknownspace invader series

paris

jan vormann (sweden) enlisted the aid of the lego company and several helpers for a series of street sculptures—repairs—in nyc

jan vormannus post office

jan vormann

jan vormann

Juliana Santacruz Herrera began filling Paris’s potholes with elaborate knitted plugs back in 2009 as an artful way of illustrating the problem she was seeing on the decaying streets

Juliana Santacruz Herrerayarn bombs

a pothole arthow-to lesson

On permanence in art:

nothing in life is permanent

here today, gone tomorrow

embrace change

non-destructive graffiti: moose—a london graffiti artist who uses soap and water to write on walls & sidewalks

which reminded me of chinese street calligraphy practice, done with brush and water

more non-destructive interventions: knit graffiti

Houston’s most notorious graffiti crew: Knitta Please

Neozoon (France and Germany): the project was to take discarded fur coats and cut them into animal shapes, which it pasted to city surfaces.

neozoonfox

recycled fur, 2009

neozoondogrecycled fur coat, 2009

I do not personally attempt to make work with an overt political message. Instead I let the medium itself be the political act... I become an integral part of public space instead of feeling like a visitor...

Keri Smith, The Guerilla Art Kit

highly political:one million bones

a fundraising art installation designed to recognize the millions of victims and survivors who have been killed or displaced by ongoing genocides

www.onemillionbones.org

non-political: edgar mueller (england)www.metanamorph.com/

digression—anamorphosisAnamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. "Ana - morphosis" comes from the Greek words meaning "formed again."

There are two main types: Perspective (oblique) and Mirror (catoptric). Examples of perspectival anamorphosis date to the early Renaissance (15th Century), whereas examples of mirror anamorphosis (or catoptric anamorphosis) occurred at the time of the baroque (17th century).

With mirror anamorphosis, a conical or cylindrical mirror is placed on the drawing or painting to transform a flat distorted image into a three dimensional picture that can be viewed from many angles.

Leonardo's Eye (Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1485) is the earliest known example of perspective anamorphosis.

Andrea Pozzo: ceiling, Church of St. Ignazio, 1685+/- perspectival anamorphosis

Hans Holbein the Younger: ‘The Ambassadors’ (1533) with a memento mori anamorph skull in the foreground.

artist unknownangel anamorph

Istvan Orosz: Mirror (catoptric) Anamorphosis with Column

Istvan Orosz: Mirror (catoptric) Anamorphosis with Column

Andrew Compton: catoptric anamorphosis of scientist John Dalton

artist unknown: catoptric anamorphosis of a thumb

Istvan Orosz: stairway anamorphosis—3 views

?: stairway anamorphosisNYC subway platform

Edgar Mueller of England said he was inspired by the British 'Pavement Picasso' Julian Beever, whose makes dramatic but more gentle 3D street images

Edgar Mueller

still more non-destructive interventions: moss graffiti

anna garforth

edina tokodi

artists unknownradical moss graffiti

el&abe (eleanor stevens and anna garforth)church moss graffiti, england

rice paddy muralsinakadate, japan

koichi hanada, a clerk in the village hall, came up with the idea in response to a request from his boss to find a way of bringing more tourists to town.

originally rice with dark purplish and bright green stalks were used.

in recent years, genetically engineered plants have been added

to produce dark red, yellow and white.

masanobu fukuoka—not (officially) an artist, but a Japanese natural-philosopher-farmer, educator writer, naturalist, researcher and professional biological scientist. he also gets credit for invention of ‘the seed bomb’. seed balls (or seed bombs, earth dumplings) are often used by guerilla gardeners in reclaiming derelict land in their neighborhoods.

seed ball grown field

seed balling in brooklyn,

ny

plantingseed balls

Joel Tauber, Tree Baby

Tree Baby is part of an ongoing project which began when the artist fell in love with a California Sycamore tree in the middle of a giant parking lot at the Rose Bowl. After caring for the tree, he cultivated approximately two hundred “tree babies” (seedlings from the original tree) to plant in public locales throughout California. Approximately one hundred and forty Tree Babies have been planted thus far; the locations have been mapped and are available at www.joeltauber.com/treebabymap.html.

Joel Tauber, Tree Baby

Paul Ramírez JonasThe Keys to the City

Participants get a key that grants access to generally off-limits parts of the city. The key opens locks at two dozen locations, from the baptistry at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to a locker at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn.

not quite guerrilla, but definitely alternative and street...

Jaws-At the ice-cream shop, the key unlocked a box that contained an assortment of items.

Lauren Burke, used her key to set up blind dates at each location and blog about it. During her date with Tim Freeman the couple unlocked a gate to a secret space under the floor of the Conference House Park Pavillion on Staten Island.

explores the odd, ordinary and ingenious in daily life. AiOP aims to stretch the boundaries in the public realm by presenting artworks outside the confines of public space regulations.

Chance Meeting. Linda Hesh hangs doorknob signs on 14th St in 8 waves beginning with ‘Is it really you?’ and ending with ‘Let’s meet again soon’ capturing a desire for connection and communication.

these projects are from the october, 2010 edition

City Souvenirs. Liene Bosque and Nicole Seisler, dressed in “official” uniforms, walk 14th St with a cart loaded with clay making impressions of often-unnoticed details

Hydrophony. Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Thomas Dexter reveal the sounds of the of the Hudson and East

Rivers by installing underwater microphones and broadcasting the sounds of fish, boats, etc live and online:

www.hydrophony.com

TXTual Healing. Paul Notzold invites passersby to respond to a subject via test messages and projects the resulting dialogue onto urban structure, thereby encouraging communication, happenstance and curiosity.

Luck Be a Lady. Maya Suess positions herself on 14th St with two women holding a sign: “Luck Be a Lady: Offering Luck, Free.”

Pump 14 is a manual bucket system performed by the 6 members of the BroLab collaborative. Using

self-constructed yokes and pails they transport water from the Hudson to the East Rivers by foot,

shedding light on the city’s waterways.

Silent Call. Christopher Dameron and Annika Newell place calls to 5 pay phones along 14th St which will emit historic sounds from its heritage—ad jingles, trolley crossings, etc—collated from the NY Public Library’s sound archive

some random street interventions...

lucho and quillocardboard car

santiago de chilelaser graffiti

manhole coversjapan

does this suggest any possibilities?

sign interventions

guerrilla reprogramming of traffic signs

or make your own dang signs!

a guerrilla art crew made a line down a block of 5th ave near 23rd st, designating one lane for locals and the other for tourists. if questioned they explained that tourists walk more slowly

sten, lex & lucamaleontecalling all angels

printed papervia nuoro, florence

credits & resources

Keri Smith, The Guerilla Art Kit: Everything You Need to Put Your Message Out Into the World, Princeton Architectural Press, NY, 2007

www.guerrillagirls.com/ : radical feminist artists fighting discrimination with facts, humor and fake fur

www.artinoddplaces.org/ : stretching the boundaries in the public realm by presenting artworks outside the confines of public space regulations

www.woostercollective.com/ : dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world

www.interestingideas.com/roadside/roadside.htm : America's great art seen from the window of a passing car

www.flickr.com/groups/951701@N24/pool/ : photos of street sculptures and installations

www.robbieconal.com/ : website of a long-time guerrilla political poster maker

i haven’t seen these...

Eleanor Mathieson, Street Artists: The Complete Guide, Korero Books, 2009

Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, Penguin Books, 1998

Cristian Campos, 1,000 Ideas for Graffiti and Street Art: Murals, Tags, and More from Artists Around the World, Rockport Publishers, 2011

project possibilitiesstencilsleave notes in library or bookstore booksguerilla gardeningposter of your day

paper, pens, markers, photos, copier, pastemake a map of your area

mark “you are here” where you leave the mapmark your favorite sites, trees, whatever

post small notices‘NOTICE - the tree to the right’‘NOTICE - woodpeckers nesting 12’ up’

public chalkboardmake and place a chalkboard, with chalkleave sign inviting people to draw, leave messages, etc

public chalk drawing: leave a bucket of chalk near a sidewalknotebook: leave a notebook & pen

ask people to make a note or drawing and pass it onfound photos: take a photo of yourself at different locations

post the photos nearbyknitted tags: measure something like a tree or pole

knit a cover for part of itsew the cover around the object

books: make a book, cover and allleave it on a library shelf

wall tags: check the local museum for what style of tag they have with the displaysmake one with you as the artist and substitute

wall art: create a grid on a wall with multi-colored post-itsmake a polka dot wall with post-its cut into dots

leave food bombs—lettuce, chard, etc—in public areas

an exercise:

• you suddenly have the ability to transmit your thoughts to others (individuals, groups, everyone)• you can only do it three times• what would you say...

1. _____________________________________________2. _____________________________________________3. _____________________________________________

some suggestions:

• look at your environment as if you were a tourist and have never seen it. attend to details. don’t judge• observe how people interact with their environment. can you use their habits to interact?• note your feelings. angry? teary? disengaged? why?• humor helps reach people. it’s non-confrontational• combine/add to/alter/reinvent ideas that already exist. build on others’ ideas• use your daily life as a source of ideas. how are your perceptions unique. how have your experiences shaped you• record your ideas as they occur. keep a journal

masanobu fukuoka—seed ball recipe

materials:•native seeds•compost•clay

instructions:•combine 2 parts seeds with 3 parts water•stir in 5 parts powdered clay (more mix seeds into wet clay)•mold into small balls•let dry for 1 or 2 days

seed balls do not need to be buried or wateredthey will self-germinate when conditions are right chuck into landfill, empty lotsintroduce to cracks in the sidewalk

leave food bombs—lettuce, chard, etc—in public areas

how to make stickers

good for any shape or size of stickernon-destructive glue which you can lick to moisten

materials:•1 package (1.4 oz) unflavored gelatin•1 tbsp cold water•3 tbsp hot water•1/2 tsp sugar• paper

instructions:•sprinkle gelatin into cold water. let soften for 5 minutes•pour in hot water until dissolved. add sugar and stir•use brush to coat back of paper—apply thickly•let dry• when ready, lick and stick

how to make wheat paste

one of the most environmentally friendly adhesives

materials:•3 tbsp cold water•3 tbsp white flour•1 cup hot water• container with lid

instructions:•boil water in kettle• mix flour and cold water to make smooth paste•put hot water in pot•slowly pour in cold mixture, stirring constantly•bring to a boil until paste thickens•add sugar. mix well, allow to cool. keep refrigerated•when ready, brush on paste. cover front to make weatherproof

recipe for moss graffiti

materials:• 1 can of beer• 1/2 teaspoon sugar• Several clumps garden moss• container with lid• a blender and a paintbrush

instructions:• crumble moss into a blender• add the beer and sugar• blend to create a smooth, creamy consistency• paint your chosen design onto the wall• keep mixture is moist for a few weeks