NeoGrafik
NeoGraf – Digital Graffiti
March 7th & 8th, 2008
Friday Map announced!!!
neograf-friday.pdf
Saturday Map announced!!!
laser tagging, projection throw-ups, photoshopped murals; the next generation of open-source light-based writing, recoding the city bulb by bulb.
The NeoGraf project will transform the city with nondestructive laser graffiti technologies. Through the use of image and light projection, graffiti artists will ‘paint’and tag buildings in realtime without violating the property. In order to present the diversity and evolution of graffiti, the project will work with different writers and artists from around Vancouver, and invite the collaboration of NomIg and Graffiti Research Lab to propagate this open-source technology.
NeoGraf Artists:
Fri, Mar 7th - Laser Tagging - Rhek & Virus
Sat, Mar 8th - Muralling - Neal Nolan & Adam Dodd
Bios
Virus
Virus is a style gangster!! OG at the least!! Buck Buck!!!:king:
- random comment, graffiti.org
Along with Dedos, Virus formed the backbone of the infamous AA Crew that were all-city kings of Van for the better part of the 1990’s… nuf’ said.
Rhek
Rhek is trying to grow up and is thus considering a career as a Latino or a Mexican. Still he’s so hood that he wears his pants below his waist and he never dances when he’s in this place. Other than that he’s a total original in that he’s both a DJ and does graphic design and is also starting a t-shirt line (www.sharksandhammers.com). He longer wants to get arrested.
Neal Nolan
My interest in classical North American sign painting, Asian calligraphy, graffiti art, N.American sociology and Eastern philosophy inspires my passion for movement in font design, bush stroke and line quality.
Having worked for Vancouver City Hall for a number of years as both an advisor to the graffiti management division and as liaison to the graffiti movement has inspired my work both intellectually and visually.
Adam Dodd
While the combination of electronics, architecture and media are aesthetically pleasing, their dubious channels are also very interesting. Adam Dodd draws much inspiration from living and working in Vancouver, a city very much on the build.
www.myspace.com/bubble_bobble
www.snapart.ca
NeoGraf - Digital Grafitti
Laser tagging was technically realized by Agent Watson (Theodore Watson - http://muonics.net/) - a new media artist from Amsterdam.
Laser Tagging was developed by assistance from Eyebeam (www.eyebeam.org), an open-source R&D lab that works in collaboration with MIT, CUNY, various other Educational Institutions, and more grassroots causes.
Graffiti Research Lab (www.graffitiresearchlab.com) , from Brooklyn, NY, took this technology, paired it with several other open-source ideas they had been implementing, and have been responsible for proliferating it. As it is open-source, they have seeded local, autonomous chapters as they have travelled the world showing the technology, and also have several how-to guides available online.
NeoGraf, or NeoGrafik as it has recently begun to be called, is the Montreal chapter, started and maintained by Ed Jordan of A/V collective NomIg and Alexis Lawrence. They, along with New Forms Festival, are responsible for bringing it to Vancouver.
(note: Watson created the app and then reached out to eyebeam/grl. i’m not really sure about where the eyebeam connection came into play but it’s for sure that watson is the main developer and should get massive props.)
Ed Jordan (of NomIg) says…
Neografik started from an interest in mental environmentalism and social ecology; that is to say a concern for the relationship between our environment and our physical and mental well-being. It is obvious that the mental environment is shaped by culture, however, what sparked my interest was the idea of visual pollution in the mental environment. Billboards, ads on tv, ads on the radio, ads in magazines, product placement, photoshopped and stylized models - the corporations have taken a keen interest in invading our most personal moments and intimate spaces (reading ads while urinating comes to mind). Who gave them the right? I became frustrated with the bombardment… what really got me going, however, was the studies of personal satisfaction conducted in the UnitedStates. Despite the population growing richer and the number of products multiplying exponentially, the highest rate of “very satisfied” people was at a peak in the mid-1950s - since then the levels of satisfaction have steadily decreased. What does this say?
I became interested in ways of reclaiming space. Graffiti writers use their art to reclaim part of what they believe is theirs - their streets, their neighbourhood and community. If the corporations can disseminate their message with impudence then so can we. What’s more, in doing so these kids developed their own community. It brought people together instead of singling them out. This really inspired me.
Being an artist who works with digital video and technology (i.e. new media) I became very interested in the work of the Graffiti Research Lab out of New York. They had taken graffiti to a new level with their laser tagging system released in early 2007 [see above]. They created software that allows you to use a projection system as you would aerosol - using a laser as you would a spray can, you can literally draw with light. This really appealed to me not only because of my interest in video but also because of the non-destructive nature of the work. Graffiti is no longer a property violation and you can make bigger and more noticeable works. It was truly giving us the opportunity to fight back, if you will, against the pollution.
I developed the neografik project out of these ideas and based on the GRL software. I added a twist to it which allows artists to not only tag but have the ability to draw complex pieces on the walls. This is the reason for two nights within the midforms event: one for the laser tagging system and the other night for the more detailed mural work. I like how there are multiple forms of graffiti (tagging, bombing, trains etc) each with their own code and stylistic characteristics within the larger graffiti form and so the multiple events is in keeping with this spirit. Then, in keeping with the community aspect of graffiti, we invite local graf artists to use the tools and offer them the ability to express themselves in a whole new direction.
It is not a canadian first as we have done the project in Montreal, however the project has begun to take on a national aspect as we are working towards developing local neografik groups in all major Canadian cities - becoming a sort of Canadian extension of the GRL. We’d like the project to spread from coast to coast and up to the north!