The Art Conference #01

I just got back from London where Tina Ziegler held the first TAC (The Art Conference) in a beautiful old factory venue called the Ugly Duck. I was asked to open two days of pretty intense talks about Art, Technology, and social engagement. I took the task seriously and used my work to show how advertising, as one of the sub genre's of cultural production systems, undermines social progress by monopolizing the systems of dissemination, prohibiting access and participation, economically driving technological determinism, and framing our cultural values in frighteningly self serving ways. It all went pretty well despite not having a podium to put my papers on. Given the chance to do it again I plan to do a little more memorization, and to attempt to go beyond advertising to Art itself, which has its own way of slowing social progress in ways which are similar to advertising itself. 

Notable speakers from the conference were RJ Rushmore who's talk From Dissidence to Decorative derided projects like Urban Nation as decorative city wallpaper intent on raising property value more than providing any of the real radical politics once prescribed to street art. As a nice opposition to that, Teresa Latuszewska spoke about the Urban Forms mural project in Lodz Poland which is a sanctioned mural project but one that works hard to reach out to the community and integrate itself deep into the skin of the city. They have also done some pretty boring and thankless work gathering hard statistics on peoples feelings towards the individual murals and the culture in general. Mia Grundahl spoke about Women on Walls which I knew little about and which practically brought me to tears. To say that these projects proved RJ's point would be an understatement. 

Similarly heartbreaking and inspirational was the work of Robert Montgomery whose texts can often be found on the street where advertising once broadcast its messages loudly. Robert has taken over billboards illegally, but he has also worked directly with the OOH companies to place his work. At first I was upset that he would collaborate with the enemy, but after speaking with him and hearing him talk, I realized that my radical politics was less important to him than ensuring there was an alternative voice to the aggressive commercial megaphone we are often confronted with on a daily basis. His writing, a sort of haunting conversation with the city and capitalism, draws a beautiful contrast that works to undermine consumerist propaganda. While I surely like his illegal pieces better, I cannot say that the sanctioned pieces are less effective to someone who doesn't know the politics behind anti ad activity. And finally Dan Witz took me on a nostalgic trip back to his earliest work that began in 1978 a year before I was born. That guy has been doing groundbreaking street art before the term was coined, hell even before graf made its mark. A true pioneer. 

All in all it was a fantastic event and I look forward to the next. If you have an opportunity to visit one yourself, I highly suggest taking the time. 

A quick installation on Commercial street, London

 The incredible force behind TAC01 Tina Ziegler

 The crowd at the first TAC

 Talking to Dan Witz about staying the course and privilege

Robert Montgomery

Speaking about how advertising undermines social progress

Speaking about how advertising undermines social progress

Living Walls-Wrap Up

The recently finished Living Walls conference in Atlanta far surpassed my expectations. In an effort to highlight street art and urban art projects' affect on our communities and public environments, Blacki and Monica's attack was threefold. A week before the conference began, incredible artists such as RIPO, Remed, Gaia, Doodles, Swampy, and many more began production on an unprecedented number of public murals around the Atlanta area. Peaking the interest of the public at large, these murals prefaced a 8 hour long conference at the Georgia Tech Architecture department. Panel discussions focused on gentrification, urban gardening and transportation issues, while artists and thinkers spoke about specific projects as well as the larger goals of our Urban Art interventions. While I ended up being the final speaker, the highlights for me included Jason Eppink's talk on rapid prototyping as a model for street art actions, and Jeff Ferrel's succinct description of why issues of representation are now the preeminent battleground in our major metropolitan environments. Jeff Has been a hero of mine ever since I read Crimes of Style but I now feel I can officially call him a friend as I spent several incredibly drunk hours on the roof where we were staying, belting out protest songs as him and Everyman wailed on an acoustic guitar. It was a truly incredible experience I will never forget. Along with the two above noted aspects of the living walls conference, Blacki and Monica held a group show at the alternative and fiercely progressive Eyedrum arts space. Here a group of nearly one thousand Atlanta residents gathered to take in the work as well as 10 rapid paced Pechacuha style presentations which were met with incredible enthusiasm. For more information, read Jessica Blankenship's article in Creative Loafing.

While I was mainly at the Living Walls conference to talk, I also included a piece from the Expanding Rituals series in the gallery show. Along with this, I got excited over the prolific mural production and thought it appropriate that while artists were out doing legal walls, I would bring my own personal touch to a single location in the city. I spent the first day I arrived at the corner of Krog and Edgewood, whitewashing the entire corner building, including the billboard attached. While it was nearly a hundred degrees out, rather than question if I was supposed to be painting this property, I think people felt bad for me. I returned towards sundown, allowing the heat to dissipate, to paint the simple design. Nearly 2/3rd of the way through and after spending several hours at the location, a van pulled up behind me. An older man jumped out, clearly upset, questioning whether or not Kenny knew about what I was doing. Assuming Kenny was the landlord I of course responded yes. The man asked for my ID, which I began to take out, willing to comply as truthfully I thought what I had done was at least a slight improvement and even probably okay with kenny, despite its unauthorized nature. As I walked towards him, he seemed upset with the fact that I was relatively un-phased and he threw his hand up as he turned around, leaving me with "fuck it! the cops are on their way anyways." While I am all about conversation with public individuals, cops don't usually engage me in a dialogue. I waited for a while across the street after packing up my materials. As I stood watch, a man pulled up to the stop light on the corner. He turned to me and asked what that was, pointing to the wall I had been working on. I responded that it was a mural. He in turn told me that he liked it and asked me if I knew why. I told him I did not and he said because it wasn't graffiti, pointing to the wall opposite mine, riddled with graf. I took this as a positive sign and hoped Kenny would feel the same way, possibly even leaving the wall up. Realizing that in all likelihood, the police were not on their way, I returned to finish the wall.

Speaking to OX before the conference, I had promised I would put up his work since he would not be able to fly in from France. Being a fellow ad takeover junky that I had worked with before in NY, I was only too happy to help out. The above images were posted over a series of two days.

The last and possibly most interesting thing that happened to me while I was in Atlanta happened the last night before I left. Around 11pm I went out to watch RIPO and Remed work on a legal wall. I sat, enjoying their process, sipping a beer when a grey pickup truck pulled into the parking lot adjacent to the wall. A man hopped out and seemed to wave to the two artists as he walked towards me. Thinking nothing of it, I offered my name, "I'm Jordan." His response, "I know." Turns out this was a freelance wildposter working for NPA. According to him, he had gotten wind I would be coming to town and had been patrolling the area waiting to catch me in the act of reclaiming the space he had covered with his illegal postering. I explained to him that I had no intention of doing so and I was mainly at the conference to talk. We had a lengthy conversation about the NYSAT actions, the resulting end of NPA, its conversion to Contest Promotions, the jail time served by project participants and the loss of many NPA jobs. He was clearly trying to feel me out and after realizing I was not some raging lunatic, hellbent on destroying his life, our conversation became more amiable. In the end he offered me a bucket of wheatpaste to put up OX's work on the condition I did not use it to take out any of his work. I agreed and he drove off with his wife in the car, both of us happy to have met one another.

While this encounter was not all that unusual for me, it did reinforce the fact that our actions had drawn national attention from NPA. It also made me realize that my movement and work was being followed closely, something I suspected, but have not seen directly until now.

All in all the conference was a fantastic experience, drawing a community of artists and activists together, sparking intense debates about the process of public appropriation of private property whose walls directly affected the public psyche. It proved without a doubt that the actions of few can have deeper more interesting consequences than we could ever imagine. It has emboldened my crusade to challenge notions of public curation and enlivened my sense of duty. I look forward to continuing this project for years to come in an effort to create more widespread physical and mental change amongst my peers and the public at large.

Living Walls the City Peaks: Call for Artists

A while back we were asked to be on a panel for the Living Walls Conference in Atlanta Goergia, August 13-15. Graciously we accepted as the organizers' enthusiasm was infectious. They have recently put out a call for artist participation as well as released a list of artists already on board. I'm excited to see such a diverse and exceptional group will be participating including two personal favorites, Gaia, and Know Hope. If you are interested in getting involved and seeing your work on the streets of Atlanta, I highly suggest you check out the site and contact the organizers.

There is also a list of speakers available for this event that includes, Dr. Jeff Ferrell, Sabir Kahn, Nathan Piazza, Liam Rattray, Blacki Li Rudi Migliozzi, and us. I'm not familiar with all of the speakers, and I look forward to talking to everyone about their ideas on public space, but I do know Jeff Ferrell's work. He has published several books on the battle for public space, including Crimes of Style and Tearing Down the Streets, which deal with graffiti and other anarchic uses of the public environment. (huge oversimplification) I was extremely inspired by both of these books and look forward to meeting Jeff in Atlanta.

Check out their Facebook page, Twitter, and website. Should be an amazing event, can’t wait!