"Look up more" - Putting up the sign

Today I decided to put the "Look up more" sign at a pedestrians' crossing in a busy road in the centre of Norwich. I chose St. George's street because it is not only very busy but it is also close to the university so I could document people's behaviour. Below you can see pictures I took and how indeed many people look at their smartphones.

I enjoyed working on this project and I can imagine how greater impact it would have if I had made more signs and placed them in central crossing points in the city. Despite the end of ASU2, I can continue this project as a self initiated one.

"Have you seen him?"

As the end of the term approaches I am completing my "Artificial Terror" project by inviting people to be involved. Today I created two "Have you seen him?" posters that are going to be put around the streets of my neighbourhood.

The images used show only some suspicious shadow of a man that was documented at night.
The text underneath the picture reads: "If you have any information about this man please contact us via email at: watchingdover@gmail.com".

The email address was created particularly for my project as a way to receive people's feedback and "us" shows that there is a group's initiative and not just one person. This will give the feeling of a coordinated effort.

The posters are going to be seen exactly at the place where the pictures where taken, as well as the neighbouring streets.

During my research I came across many humorous examples that i would like to avoid. However it was quite helpful as to the visual language that I should adopt.

I did not include a phone number or email address in the form of a detachable part as I want the information to be seen by everyone that reads the poster. Additionally, no reward is offered as it is more of a moral issue that should concern the public rather than an individual missing a pet.

Ready for the streets

Free Art Friday pt. 3

This is the third time I will create an artwork and leave it on the street as a part of the "Free Art Friday". Last time I painted a small train and this time I was looking for an object with smooth surfaces and bigger in size.

I bought the vase shown below from my neighbourhood's second hand shop only for £ 2.5

The first layer was painted by using spray paint and then I added abstract shapes and lines using markers.

The person who finds it also receives a note that is hidden inside the vase. the text on the note reads: 

Dear friend, this piece is free for you to take! "Free Art Friday" brings art to the streets and makes us people to explore our city. If you like my work and would like to see more please visit the links below:

flickr.com/donbiletos

instagram.com/donbiletos

bilosgraffiti.blogspot.com

I documented my morning from the moment that I put the vase in my bag until i leave it somewhere in the centre of Norwich. Documenting the creation of the piece is equally valued to the documentation of the action as well as the audience's responses as they are all parts of which a "Free Art Friday" consists of.

The image below was uploaded on my Instagram account as well as on my Facebook Artist's page with the caption: " Here is my clue for today's Free Art Friday. If you are in Norwich you can probably guess where this is. Good luck! " 

By uploading a "clue", the audience is called to follow my social media accounts if they want to get to the prize first. It works pretty much like a game in the city

It was exciting to receive a comment on the picture of the vase from the person that had found it!

For the past two Fridays I have been going out in the streets to leave my artwork early in the morning. The preparation takes almost the form of a ritual. On the previous day, the busy and tiring Thursday, is when I try to find a nice object that i am going to paint on. It is essential for me to buy these objects from second hand shops or find them in the streets as a part of the cycle of life of objects.

Another important aspect of my approach is to paint on three dimensional objects. My first Free Art Friday was just an envelope with a print inside. As the weeks passed, I tried to create three dimensional works as an opportunity to experiment but also as a way to create something that people can place in their space and will need no framing or nails on a wall.

I do not mind at all going through the process of finding the objects or getting up at 5:45 every Friday morning. I value every second of it as it is a very special way to promote my work and brings art and joy to other people as a gift in the streets.

Microcosm gets hit by terror stickers

I created small stickers using the terror silhouette and started putting them around the streets of Home Watch Areas. It was very interesting to work in such a small scale as I have not done it before. Even though I have been working in the streets and dealing with public surfaces and materials like concrete, bricks, metal or wood as a background I have always used it for much larger pieces.

Placing tiny stickers of an "artificial terror" figure ,as it is presented to citizens by signs ,is an ironic comment on the idea of public danger itself as the danger is scaled down to something totally harmless, even unnoticeable.

On the other hand, the action of spreading those "dangerous" figures around the city prompts a question. How is this area considered "Home Watch Area" if someone is able to treat public space as he desires?

The scenery changes when two or more of these figures appear together. Are they more threatening now? Maybe for ants.

Another way to present the idea in the streets was to place the stickers in places where people have something to read. An invasion to public space will not ask for permission, there it is, appearing where you do not expect.

Moreover, I experimented more by looking for places where the figure of the sticker would conceptually interact with the background. What if it is placed on a sign that warns thieves that they are being watched? 

Perhaps it enhances the message of the sign itself as the thief appears to be so small or even helpless before the eyes of the Police. 

On signs with street names:

In a dialogue with stickers by other people in the streets:

On the pedestrian crossing buttons:

Last but not least: On promotional platforms for Norwich's sights. Going against the public branding of a city and how it is chosen by authorities to be presented to the public. Obviously, signs that indicate actions or even the existence of anything related to crime are deliberately avoided. Norwich is branded as a "Fine City" and when it comes to promotion no one would like to even mention chances of criminality. However, some tourists will come across the "terror silhouette" sticker whilst looking for the next sight to visit. 

Alternatively we could read:

"Discover Norwich, a fine city with chances of crime"

"Discover Norwich, a crime city)"

"Discover norwich, discover crime"

But who would want such a public image for a city to be presented as a representative image?

No one tells us though that we cannot handle the image of the city we inhabit according to our likes, even if legislation is harsh when it comes to public property defacing, there are still ways to interfere and alter the public space.

"It is easier to forbid people to see than to allow them to think. One decides to control the image to guarantee the silence of thought, and when thought has lost its rights, the image is accused of every ill under the pretext that is out of control. The violence perpetrated against the image, that is the question. In the violence of this entire debate around the visible, we must understand that the violence of the visible is due to the war that is being waged against the image, the war against thought.... To defend the image is to oppose everything that eliminates the otherness of the gazes constructing the invisibility of meaning. The power of the image is equal to the voices inhabiting it."

 Daniel Fabre, "Gavroche et l'Elephant ou Vivre aver le monument," in L'abus monumental?, Paris, 1999, p.278

Another text on a touristic map invites people to download an app on their phones in order to receive information about events and the city's heritage. A sticker next to the mobile phone logo fits well the visuals of the board. Without being mentioned in the text or having a descriptive text of its own, it makes an implication about something unresolved. Are the tourists now in a comfortable position? Are they really ready or willing to "Discover Norwich"? 

"As soon as cities or territories (districts, regions, countries) start claiming to be products to be sold on the market, they logically adopt the attributes of brands. What are the effects, the ravages of those impositions of symbolic violence on such vulnerable systems of human settlement? 

It is no coincidence if, since the 1960s (Marlaux's law of 1962 on protected sectors), the concepts of historical urban groups and urban legacy have now joined that of the historical landmark. Forged in England in the second half of the 19th century, these concepts only won recognition in France when the worst threatened. In a word, the city is becoming a historical landmark and [a] question arises that splits in two, i.e., how is one to both preserve this legacy and take on the future of the non-city that is coming after it?" - Francoise Choay, Pour un anthropology de l'espace, Paris, 2006, p.42

Free Art Fridays

Experimental work using the "Terror Silhouette" as a main element.

Why one?

Why black?

Experimental work using the "Terror Silhouette" as a main element. How does colour and repetition affect the meaning of the icon?