Faile keep upping their game BIG TIME. Street Art doesn’t get much better than this. For Portugal Arte 10, they have built an ancient temple in the middle of a public square in Lisboa. Check out the pictures, this is awesome…

pics via

A spectacular FREE two day event, commencing on Saturday 24th – 25th July, 12 – 6pm. The Whitecross Street Party will be held in the heart of London’s internationally renowned art scene and will include some the worlds most creative living non-conformist Artists. For TWO whole days dozens of Leading cult, counter culture and contemporary artists will converge upon Whitecross street. Here they shall lay siege to the notion that things always have to be the same. Happily the area famous for its historical creative’s, dissidents and mavericks will now see again on mass -  ‘Rise of the non- conformists’.

The whole street will become a creative haven of artistic opportunity. Not only will two dozen leading artists transform the street to become a giant canvas but also local schools, community centre’s, local business’s, local council and local charities in unity have pitched together to make this event one to be remembered. Showcased also will be over ten underground musicians playing Parisian style right on the street. Whilst also expect loads of wonderful activities and things to do for all ages. This will include things like giant knitting, carnival Parades, cilk screen workshops, Children’s photo booth, stencil printing workshops, live art demonstrations, Birds of prey and lots more.

CONFIRMED ARTISTS:

Best Ever

Fascinating, freaky video and photographic series about, yes, a real doll factory in Los Angeles, California. While the photographs, shot by photographer Zackary Canepari, are haunting, the video, from California is a place, has an interview with the real doll creator Matt McMullen, who views his work as a kind of art. Although this isn’t your average art buying opp, the doc is well edited and strangely enjoyable to watch; Matt justifies his business by reflecting on the good it does for his lonely customers….I judge not….

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Simon English just set out on his epic journey down the length of England that will see him returning to 75 places he visited nearly forty years ago. His trip, which can be followed online at www.englandrevisited.net, is being launched with the release of 500 red and white balloons into the skies over Cumbria this afternoon.

Image from Cumbria taken in 1971.

The renowned land artist is retracing the steps he took for his monumental 1971 artwork, All England Sculpture, during which he marked out the word ‘ENGLAND’ with St George’s flags from Cumbria to Southampton. For England Revisited, Simon will return to those same 75 locations to witness, document and comment on the changes that have occurred in their landscapes, ecologies, communities and industries over the past four decades.

Unlike All England Sculpture, documented with pencil, paper, screenprint and analogue camera, England Revisited is very much a work for the digital age. As well as being visible online, viewers can sign up for e-bulletins to share Simon’s progress via video diary over the course of his evolving journey.

People will be encouraged to engage further with England Revisited if they find some of the released balloons. Seventy-five of the 500 balloons are white, and will have messages attached, urging the finder to contact artevents with their discovery and story.

Back in 1971 as a young artist, Simon English hitched, trained and hiked around the country collecting local flora, photographically documenting each place, and meeting the locals.

He marked each spot visited with a St George’s flag and a note inviting people to write to him – which many did.

This time, armed with the latest digital recording equipment he will revisit the landscapes, ecologies, communities and industries from his original journey. He will once again place a flag at each point, interact with local people and gather plant samples. Additionally, he will record his observations via a video diary. This fresh round of documentation will reveal the changes that have taken place in the intervening four decades. English’s whereabouts on the journey will be tracked live using GPS mapping technology and an iPhone and will be available live online.

Taking around three months, the experience will exist online and his records will be digitized as a tape-slide exhibition available to download by arts and community centres all over the country.

Simon English
Simon English (b. 1949) is a conceptual land artist with over 20 ambitious land art works to his credit. Apart from All England Sculpture, his Camomile Swan (1989) and Reversing the Zebra (1992) have received critical and popular acclaim. He lives in Stratford upon Avon, England.

via a cool art blog fad

So Google follows YouTube in a globally crowdsourced art/people project. Not surprising seeing as they’re one and the same virtual beast these days. Anyhoo it’s still a fun bit of Web 2.0 art to get involved in. A BIG BUT…as Google are the main benefactors from this process, surely rewarding the chosen contributors would complete the karma circle and also fulfil the Web 3.0 paradigm.

Another point to bear in mind: Google’s premise of a “global” view of the world sadly omits at least a sixth of the world’s population….

Sometimes Google takes a break from its mission of ‘organizing all the world’s information’ and decides to embark upon an artsy project that encapsulates…organizing all the world’s information.

Late on Tuesday, the search giant posted an entry to the Official Google Blog announcing the creation of “Life In A Day,” a film project that solicits video submissions from YouTube users around the world–the criteria is that they must capture some kind of moment filmed on July 24.

It’s legit. “Touching The Void” director Kevin Macdonald will edit “the most compelling footage” into a documentary film executive-produced by Ridley Scott of “Blade Runner” and “Gladiator” fame. It will be shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, all contributors who make it into the final cut will be credited as “co-directors,” and 20 of them will be invited to the premiere.

But, the Google blog post explains, everyone’s important! “Regardless of whether your footage makes it into the final film, your video(s) will live on on the ‘Life in a Day’ channel as a time capsule that will tell future generations what it was like to be alive on July 24, 2010,” the post by product marketing manager Tim Partridge read.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because the “crowdsourced 24-hour project” is old hat. The Yahoo-owned photo sharing site Flickr amassed user submissions from around the world on May 5, 2007 and eventually put selections into a self-published book. This spring, The New York Times’ photo blog, The Lens, organized a similar project and published the results in a visually stunning infographic–titling it in Times-appropriate fashion, “A Timely Global Mosaic, Created By All Of Us.” To Google’s (and Ridley Scott’s) credit, this time it’s actually on film as opposed to in the form of a gigantic photo collection.

It’s also part of Google’s ongoing appeal to the independent and amateur filmmaking community. Last year, it used the Sundance Film Festival as the kickoff event for its fledgling movie rental service, and continues to court industry professionals who may otherwise have been under the impression that YouTube is best for grainy videos of cats chasing laser pointers.

via c-net

Following on from the success of the ProjectRoom series in Berlin, Remi/Rough and Jaybo brought ProjectRoom to London with the help of the UK’s abstract graffiti pioneer; Juice 126. Let me introduce raw live art.

ONE NIGHT ONLY AND IT GOT MESSY!!!

Another Web 2.0 art project utilising crowdsourcing emerges! Snapshot Brighton is an open submission, open judging photographic crowdsourcing competition. Submit your photos and images of Brighton and Brighton life. Rate what you see on the site, viewers are the judges! The project has just started and is open for submissions and ratings until October 2010. The highest rated photos or images will win prizes! As we know artists are our pure pioneers, freely exploring the unknown long before business has the bottle. Turns out crowdsourcing art is  b-uncut’s speciality. We now have a network of over 1800 artists and offer artists a commercial gateway for their talents. Art directors, interior designers, curators and collectors use our unique Commission Art™ system to buy art from our panoptic artist community rapidly and cost effectively. We use an ethically responsible and sustainable crowdsourcing model ensuring a fair trade for all our artists.

Banksy decided to hit Glastonbury this year, but is it really a Banksy or imitation? I wish I could’ve made good old glasto for its 40 year anniversary. Looks like it was a corker!

Photos below all sourced from an excellent photography feed, Boston Globe’s Big Picture.

Crowdsourced Anti-BP protestors spilt a black substance and feathers outside the Tate Britain last night, calling for the museum to cut its ties with the oil giant.
The ‘Good Crude Britannia’ group poured what is thought to have been molasses from cans with the BP logo. As the terrible oil spill continues in the Gulf of Mexico, the reactionary saga certainly won’t die. As we wait for what’s next on the protest programme, watch this video….

Think about the phrase “Key to the City.” Bestowing ceremonial keys on heroes and celebrities is something mayors generally do. But what if everyone could have a key to the city, and you could bestow it on anyone you wish?

The gate to the baptistery at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City is open to those who hold the key. A public art project by Paul Ramirez Jonas in conjunction with Creative Time distributes master keys that unlock a number of sites, like the baptistery, throughout the city.

A public art project is making that happen this summer in New York City. The project is sponsored by the organization Creative Time, and the artist is Paul Ramirez Jonas. The main goal is to get people to see parts of the city they have never seen.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given keys to the Dalai Lama and the New York Yankees, but, as he said at a recent news conference, “Those keys are merely symbolic. They actually don’t open anything.”

Yet this month everyone has the authority to give out a key to the city. They’ve made 25,000 Medeco keys — and these are not symbolic. They are functional.

“They are master keys that unlock padlocks, post office boxes, steel gates and secret compartments across the city,” Bloomberg says.

There is a process for receiving the key: line up at a kiosk, choose a partner — a friend or a stranger — and go through a ceremony. The ceremony includes signing a big book and exchanging keys between partners.

Craig Snyder, a filmmaker, met Martin Fiasconaro on the line.

“I bestow the key to the city to Martin Fiasconaro, in consideration of being the educator of the day in Times Square. Do you accept this key to the city? Then by the power temporarily granted me in this work of art, I, Craig Snyder, award you this key,” Snyder said in their ceremony. They signed the book and were congratulated.

Along with the key comes a little blue passport, which lists all the sites. Most will be open all summer. One site is only minutes from the place where the keys are distributed. It’s a box on a street lamp in the middle of New York’s Bryant Park.

“We literally got our keys about five minutes ago and we thought let’s check it out,” said Iya Megre, a college student home for the summer. She opened the box, flipped the switch and waited a long time for the light to come on. Inside the box were scores of little pieces of paper, notes people had written and business cards. “Something’s happening,” she said. “There is a beginning of an illumination.”

It may seem silly, but most people have never turned on a city street lamp. So it’s something new. Each key opens 24 sites — a locker in a gym, a garden in an ashram, a baptistery in a church, a cemetery and a Faberge exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

One place you can use your key is the home of New York City mayors: Gracie Mansion. Nine city mayors have lived there, although Bloomberg does not. To use the key, participants have to take the official tour. Musician Robin Goldwasser said she was “hoping to find the ghost of mayors past.” Halfway through the tour is a bedroom, and the key opens the closet. Mayor Bloomberg has joked that “there are rumors of ghosts in there. Who knows?”

It turns out there are no ghosts or mayors in the closet; there’s a portrait and an original check written in 1797. Although a few key holders are disappointed, most admit they would never have gone on the tour if they had not gotten their keys. The main purpose of Creative Time’s project had been achieved.

Key To The City

This great post was from NPR by MARGOT ADLER