For Roosevelt it was radio, Kennedy had television, and Obama had social media. Needless to say, social media/networking has revolutionized the way people around the world communicate and has allowed for constant access to each other. The Internet created a new outlet for nearly every aspect of daily life. These new forms of communication via social networking are not just for connecting with old friends or posting pictures, the use of these sites provide a new world of potential connections of which politicians have recently grown akin to.
The most exemplary of this exact phenomenon is the campaigns of both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. These two opposing candidates differed in many ways of course, but specifically regarding media, they showed a large contrast in the effectiveness of online media and advertising in drawing attention of potential voters. Firstly, the actual tools both candidates used are very telling. Obama, in 2012, used tools such as Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter (two accounts) and Spotify. By the looks of these tools alone you can see his target demorgraphic and the entire vibe of his presidential campaign.
Using a total of nine social media tools was unheard of before Obama, and because of that he connected the historical process of presidential election with the world of Web 2.0 that exists today. Obama’s campaign was more active and generated many more responses from users of these sites. It would be foolish to say that his social media use didn’t help him win the election that year. He posted 29 messages per day on average, had twice the amount of Facebook supporters on said posts, used almost double the tools as Romney, and on all fronts, definitely trumped Romney in the social media campaign sector.
Romney’s approach to social media tools for his campaign was slightly different to say the least. He used Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Google+, and twitter. Five compared to the nine Obama used. Perhaps because he focused on a more conservative, older audience or because his campaign team for some unknown reason decided deemed a big social media presence unimportant.
It is said that there was about a 10-to-1 spending gap on social media between the two candidates. To put it in perspective, the Obama campaign spent $47 million on digital spending. And the Romney campaign spent $4.7 million.
CNN reported that the “Obama campaign believed from the start that digital was an important new area, and really had an almost an evangelical feeling about signing people up to register to give money through Facebook and Twitter.” Like many others, I now wonder, will 2016 be another social media campaign or will we be on to something new?
Studying abroad in Barcelona for the past 4 months had made me fall in love with the city—the street performers, food, laid-back lifestyle, history, people, art, and plethora of activities.
Every day I’m here Barcelona surprises and inspires me in a new way. Barcelona is like Paris, New York, or Tokyo—any major city in that there’s always something to do, and you’d need a lifetime to do it in.
But as tourists we don’t get a lifetime to see a city. We get a few days, maybe a week or two if we’re lucky. We see as much as we can before we move on. So for those with limited time, what can we do? How can we maximize our time in a place like Barcelona where there’s just so much to see? Well, seeing as Summer is right around the corner, I’ve created a sample itinerary for your Summer vacation in Barcelona to help you organize and maximize your time in this incredible city:
Day 1 Barri Gotic
This is Barcelona’s historic center and dates back to pre-Roman times. The area is a maze of tiny streets that turn around on each other and open into lovely squares and plazas. Highlights include:
Barcelona History Museum – Barcelona has one of the best city history museums I’ve ever been to. It does an incredible job of explaining the history and importance of Barcelona and has over 4,000 square meters of Roman ruins located beneath the museum that you can walk through. It’s spectacular. There’s a free, detailed audio guide and descriptive explanations of what you’re seeing.
Picasso Museum – While I’m not a huge fan of most of Picasso’s later work, with over 3,000 pieces of art, this museum has a lot to see, and even I was happy.
The Gothic Cathedral – Located in the heart of the Barri Gotic, this Gothic cathedral was built on top of an 11th-century church. You can take an elevator up to the roof for sweeping views of the surrounding historic area.
Lunch: La Boqueria – This is the famous central food market in the Barri Gotic and one of the best places to grab lunch in the area. (Watch out for crowds!)
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art – In the Raval area of town is the city’s modern art museum. They have hundreds of exhibits, especially from Spanish artists. If you love modern art, it’s worth a stop.
Night 1
Parc de la Ciutadella
On the complete other end of the Barri Gotic (it’s a beautiful walk through the historic streets, so you’ll enjoy it) is the Parc de la Ciutadella. Gaudi designed the famous Cascada Fountain when he was an architecture student. On a warm day, I just like to sit and stare at the fountain. There’s also a zoo in the park and some short walking paths. Take a bottle of wine, grab some ham, and have a picnic.
Day 2 Food tour
Barcelona has some of the best food in Spain, and there’s no better way to spend your morning than learning about the food culture of the city. I strongly recommend Context Travel’s food tour, which takes you around the Barri Gothic and the food markets there to highlight the food history and delicacies of the region. One of the most informative and delicious tours I’ve been on in a while, it’s not the cheapest food tour in the city, but I got everything I paid for.
Beaches
No trip to Barcelona is complete without a visit to its famous beaches. After you’ve gorged on food, siesta all day on the beaches, work on your tan, and relax with all the locals who had the same idea. Day one was a busy one, so make day two relaxing.
Day 3
Gaudi
Gaudi is Barcelona’s most famous architect and is considered the father of the modernitsa architecture movement. His unique style, use of nature, and catalog of work draws a lot of attention and visitors to the city. You can find his work spread throughout the city, but in the Eixample area, you can visit these four big sites:
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Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo
Lunch – Take a breather (and a late lunch).
Walking tour– While still in the Eixample area, you can visit all the other modernista movement sites.While Gaudi was the most famous architect of the movement, Barcelona is full of modernista-style buildings by other great architects. You can identify the buildings by the red circle in front of them on the sidewalk. You can also take the Context Travel tour about the movement or simply download a mini walking guide (right) and do it yourself.
Night 3
Visit Placa d’Espanya at night (Thursday)
On Thursdays, the Placa d’Espanya has fountains and lights that line the street towards Montjuïc Hill. At the end is the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, which puts on a spectacular light and water show. Afterwards, walk up the hill to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya for an expansive view of the city. This is also a great place to take a date. Very romantic!
Day 4 Harbor Cable Car
The 1450-meter long harbor aerial tramway with red cars connects Montjuic and Barceloneta. It starts near the beach on top of the 78-meter tower and takes you all the way to Montjuïc Hill.
Montjuïc Hill – When you arrive on the hill from the cable car, you’ll be able to enjoy a good view of the city and visit the Castell de Montjuïc (a large 18th-century fortress), as well as gardens, a Spanish village, and some Olympic stadiums. There’s a lot to do here, so you’ll have plenty of choices.
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya- The Catalunyas take regional pride very seriously. They’re Catalunyas first, Spaniards second, if at all. It was no surprise to me then to find a whole museum dedicated to art of the region. Since it’s high on a hill, you can use the museum’s patio to take pretty epic photos of the city.
Day 5
Relax
On your last day in Barcelona, relax and just enjoy the city. Every city visit needs a free day where you can just slow down and not feel rushed. Use this day to do whatever you want.
Suggestions:
Hit the beach again – work on your bronze a little more.
See anything you haven’t seen – didn’t get time to visit some other sites, museums, or walk through some neighborhoods? Spend your afternoon doing that!
Eat a ton – you can never have enough food in Barcelona.
Drink lots of sangria –every restaurant has its on take on Barcelona’s famous sangria. Try them all!
Other things to do:
Barcelona hosts many other activities beyond just the normal picture-taking sightseeing:
Learn to cook – Since Barcelona is such a food-centric city, if the normal sights and activities bore you, take a food class. There are many one-day cooking classes offered.
Day trip to Figueres – This region is home to Dalí, and you can take a day trip to Figueres, where you can visit the Dalí museum featuring some of his most famous works.
For more suggested eating, check out these places:
For your Summer vacation you could squeeze in the real highlights of Barcelona in two or three days, but taking five (or even six) for the above itinerary gives you enough time to gorge on Iberian ham, tapas, and sangria while not rushing around.
Studying abroad this semester in Barcelona, there are a few tips I wish I had known when I first arrived: Barcelona moves slowly—dinner’s at 9, you’re early to the bar if it’s before 2am, and everyone sleeps late and loves their siesta. And since this city moves slowly, so should you. Sleep late, take breaks, eat lots, don’t rush your visit, and just enjoy Barcelona—at a Spaniard’s pace!
I thought I’d save the best, in my opinion of course, for last. If you find yourself vacationing in Barcelona this Summer and are looking to see some incredible street art, there is no better way to tour this vibrant city and its culture than a Barcelona’s famous street art tour!
Thinking about quitting your day job? This may be some inspiration for you. Apparently, quite a few lifestyle “YouTubers” are raking in more money in a month than a lot of people make in a year. AdAge estimated the monthly earnings of some of the top vloggers (video-bloggers) on YouTube, and then ranked them. And, these video-bloggers, many of them are twenty-something’s or younger, are pulling in insane cash flow.
Most of the more successful vloggers are focused on lifestyle, fitness, and beauty tutorials. On the beauty side, a vlogger named Yuya is the top earner, making over $41,000 per month. By comparison, according to Fashionista’s 2014 survey on jobs in the fashion industry, a copy editor on a successful magazine makes a little more like $40,000 a year. Grav3yardgirl and Zoella, also female lifestyle vloggers, round out the top three, bringing home $32,000 and $27,000 monthly, respectively.
Every country has their own YouTube stars. There’s a similar trend in Asia with vloggers who make just as much money as the aforementioned ones in the US.
It’s incredible because a vlogger never really creates products unless they’re a DIY kind of vlogger, but they share tips and bascially build their own fan-base that follows them purely for their thoughts and tutorials and opinions.
A survey conducted by Variety last year found that YouTube stars scored significantly higher than traditional celebrities across a range of characteristics and were considered to have the “highest correlation to influencing purchases among teens. YouTubers were judged to be more engaging, extraordinary and relatable than mainstream stars, who were rated as being smarter and more reliable”, the magazine reported.
Where does all this money come from? Aside from advertising, plenty of these vloggers have endorsement deals and side projects. Zoella, for example, released her first novel last year, with a second one already in progress. And, of course, there are all the paid placements and appearances. The vlogger industry is a difficult market to crack of course, but one that is incredibly lucrative once you do.
To put it simply, it’s really all about how many viewers you can draw in and YouTube pays these vloggers out based on their view count because they include ads in their uploads. Once these vloggers obtain a certain amount of channel subscribers and views per video, they also get to use facilities provided by YouTube to film their videos. Most of these viewers/fans are teenagers or women in their early 20’s gushing in their comments about how they want to be like the vlogger, meet them, or say all kinds of things anything to get these YouTuber’s to acknowledge them. Zoella can upload a video talking about her day, what she ate for dinner, what time she went to sleep last night, etc. and you can be sure that video will have more than a million views in a matter of a couple days.
Seville, as a street art enthusiast, is absolutely one of my favorite cities I’ve visited while studying abroad which, was a rather surprising realization. I was immediately drawn to the vibe of the city, a combination of typical Spanish features such as fabulous tapas bars, wine, and flamenco dance but also a vibrant young art scene which I initially noticed when I walked by a large wall by the Guadalquivir River filled with some of the most creative street art we’ve seen anywhere in Europe (below).
As I explored more, I found myself surrounded by street art in Seville. Particularly graffiti is all over the the place. It is on walls, buildings, blinds, even the garbage containers in the street are full of graffiti and tags. I hadn’t expected to see any street art in such a quaint-looking city so i was thrilled by this discovery. I was so hungry for information about who the artists are and curious as to where exactly the art comes from in the very apparent, vibrant street art culture in Seville.
The art pictured above in this image I was initially attracted to because it stuck out with such powerful colors against a background of buildings of all the same neutral beige. Later, I was informed by my friend studying in Seville that there are about four graffitis of this exact unicorn around the city and it represents the artist’s resentment and retaliation against the Spanish government.
The street art has a very powerful way to modernize and add a new sense of contemporary art to an otherwise richly historical city. Seville is the perfect example of that impact. If you’re want to see exactly what I’m talking about, but don’t necessarily have time to visit Seville in the near future, I recommend you watch the video below to get a real taste of the incredible culture of street art in this magnificent city.
In the wake of the global growth of interest in art in the streets, one form of tourism that may soon be blowing up could be graffiti excursions, street art sightseeing, or even mural journeying. New York and Los Angeles have been a magnet for years for aerosol artists and street art-enthusiasts but visiting Lisbon, and experiencing its street art first hand, was just the opposite. When planning your trip to Portugal, I highly suggest including a hunt of the elusive wheat-pastes,stencils, and fill-ins in order to capture an exotic local feel than any museum could offer. And why not take a few pictures with your favorite works by street artists that you only previously saw on Instagram or other street art blogs? When I told my friends my plan to find some of the work I’d researched, they scoffed, looking at me like I was crazy to think there was any street art worth seeing in Lisbon. Perhaps because of the way the city is designed, or because it was a somewhat random tour I’d planned on taking with multiple destinations that they’d never heard of. I thought I would be the only tourist in Lisbon seeking to discover this street art suggested through other street art enthusiasts but I was wrong. Urban or contemporary, this project has a tremendous following that I had not anticipated. I decided to take my friends on my own, self made “art tour” last week in Lisbon, Portugal and in preparing for the trip, I started by using the “Underdogs” and the local “Vhils” project as some of the references for where to begin (as they had been the most mentioned in all the research I’d done). “Underdogs is an international working platform based in Lisbon, Portugal that aims at creating space within the contemporary art scene for artists connected with the new languages of urban visual culture,” say the organizers, and they have curated a program of some large-scale pieces around the city in a manner that makes them seem like the installations have been there for decades, rather than a handful of years. Our “tour” began unexpectedly when immediately after leaving the airport, our taxi driver unintentionally drove us by the famous block-long Os Gemeos, Blu, Sam3, Ericailane, and Lucy Mclauchlan mural. I told the taxi driver that I was in town to take pictures of art in the streets and, after a slight translation struggle, he mentioned I should find one street where a group of artists painted a series of murals about the local government administration which I later found out was one of the famous Vhils collaborations that I’d planned on seeing. As with any vacation, planning your means of transportation is key. My friends and I soon realized, Lisbon is not quite as pedestrian friendly as other cities, mainly because of the topography and many hills. So, for your personal street art tour, I suggest using public transit or taxis to get to most of these locations. One of the first spots we went to was the harbor area for the Pixel Pancho and Vhils collaborations. After that, with intentions to continue our exploration, we went to the Belem Tower and a How & Nosm mural. The next day, we decided to take a taxi to the area where I had located some C215 work. The taxi driver asked why we were going to that location/area, and I explained, as best I could, that I was writing a blog about art in the street. Once we arrived at the location we asked him if he wanted to come with us to see the art. We, perhaps our driver in particular, were all incredibly impressed with the C215 mural. He said he’d bring driving in town for 25 years and had never been on that street or never seen the artwork. That evening we took a ferry over to Almada with a great view of the 25 de Abril Bridge (the same architect who designed the Golden Gate Bridge. You can walk up the coast toward the bridge and there are two small restaurants that make for a perfect sunset meal or drink. The waterfront is covered with graffiti and is a good representation of the art in the area. I don’t normally give travel suggestions aside from street art but I have to recommend taking a trip up to the castles in Sintra once you’ve finished your street art tour. It’s a 30-minute train ride from the center of Lisbon and it is worth every minute. The castles are breathtaking and definitely should not be missed. Sintra, including the train ride, was one of the highlights of our entire stay. The train ride gave me an opportunity to see all the trackside graffiti that is quite common in Europe that I otherwise would have missed. I’ve come to learn, highway and train-track graffiti are very common, much different than what we are accustomed to in the US.
On Thursday afternoon a guest speaker lead a discussion in Journalism 2.0. His name was Valení San Juan. We had conducted some research before he arrived, watched his videos, heard stories about his fearless escapades from our professor (Pipo Serrano), but nothing could have prepared us when we actually met Mr. San Juan. Valentí San Juan walked into our classroom, pointed a camera at us, after asking permission, and began his discussion with our class asking us what his job title was, or what exactly he did for a living. I was immidiately intrigued. Blogger? Adventure Specialist? Journalist? T.V personality? I too, along with the rest of the class was stumped. I’d watched his videos, I knew what his work very well, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on what exactly it would be called.
Surprisingly, Google isn’t very helpful with this question either. When you look up Valentí you can see his repitiore of various videos and segments on “Visto Lo Visto(VLV), or his television show “Etiquetats” but nothing really tells you specifically what he does, or more importantly, what it took to get him there.
Valenti’s road to success was not a conventional one, nor was it easy. Some may think because he gets to pretty much work on his own schedule, and do “whatever he wants”, people may think he lives the dream life. And while that may all be true, he had to work much harder than one would imagine. There was a long journey, with many obstacles that lead to his current success. Starting off as a broadcast journalist on Catalunya Ràdio, to many cases of trial and error sampling multiple demographics and other various combinations of audiences, topics, and coworkers, to working alone, to spreading his talent worldwide using just his camera, Valenti’s career path is unlike any one else’s. Sanjuan has a total of four Youtube channels – vistolovistoTV with 135,956 subscribers, ETIQUETAGS with 10,660 subscribers, ValentiEstaLoco with 60,590 subscribers, and Mercè Sanjuan with 7,816 subscribers.When you see each of his videos you can see the true genius that is behind them. You can tell the detail that goes into every segment, the hours of film recorded and not used, the demographic tests, the countless sleepless nights that go into being one of the most successful “Youtube-ers” on the Internet.
Using a television-type-format his show looks just like a high quality program on television with a live audience (200 online viewers per month). He has created a new frontier of what one is capable of or what the internet today is capable of. There are so many career paths like Valenti’s that have not yet been discovered. So many people that are too afraid to take the leaps of faith that Valentí did to get to where he is. So many people told him no, as he explained, but he didn’t listen.
Even after his contract wasn’t renewed for Catalunya Ràdio, he persevered. Rather than broadcasting his show on the radio, he streamed it through the Internet, he knew the product had to change in order to attract financial funding. This was Sanjuan’s first step in joining the worlds of radio and television.
He knew his dream, maybe not in a job title or within the bounds of what is considered “acceptable” in society, but he knew what he was meant to do and he went out and did it.
To be able to spread your message to so many people, to be your own boss creating your own site, to truly live your own manifested dream, rather than what someone else envisioned for you. And, more than that, to be able to not just settle for one job title. Valenti gets to have at least seven jobs at once and, according to his website, by combining his various projects, Sanjuan has over 7 million YouTube views each month and nearly 3 million followers on his combined social networks. With such a wide reach and ability to influence that many people, he is an expert at digital marketing any brand, whether his own or another company’s.This knowledge and experience catalyzed the creation of Sanjuan’s own media agency/production company called Gordon Seen. Gordon Seen marries people like Youtuber’s, Bloggers, Instagrammer’s, with companies who want their content produced. It seems as if his work is limitless, like he can do anything he sets his mind to and encourages others to do so too without fear of failure or rejection.That is purely “a part of the journey”, as he so astutely explained in class. He is a true inspiration and example of how lucky we are to be a part of this generation and what we have access to. So often we use just the minimal amount and don’t understand the true impact we can have or people we can reach with one Youtube post or keeping a video diary. Our adventures, like Sanjuan’s, can motivate and inspire so many other people, we have so much more power than we realize and Valenti is a true leader of that concept.
Some of the most influential books, sayings, poems of all time were published with no name. They are out there, on people’s bookshelves, framed on walls, quoted in movies, with no one to claim them. They transcend without ownership. This concept is easily applicable in relevance to the anonymity of street art and what it means to typical art culture and viewing practices. Much different than traditional art and even early graffiti, the anonymous works that are found on construction walls, street corners, and shop grates rather than hung in museums, and pose a difficult yet exciting complex for the street art, or, art-history enthusiast that happens upon them.
Often hilarious, poignant, or simply gibberish, anonymous street art works, whether wheat-pasted, spray-painted, hand-painted or a combination of all three, project a purity of artistic expression, singularly representing art for art’s sake. On the other hand, they may lack a point whatsoever, which is an idea equally as intriguing. No matter the case, they remind society of the freedom of art, how it can mean everything or nothing at all. It is absent of profit, of fame, of definition, it exists for the sake of self expression.
Thinking about the impact of anonymous street art can warrant a tremendous amount of varied, and maybe even contradictory thoughts, which may come out as a jumbled mess with no end. Like anonymous street art itself, no conclusion can truly be made or question answered. Street art, in a way, demands to be felt. It demands to be noticed. It provokes thoughts in every person that wanders down a street and come across a beautiful piece of art near some bags of garbage.
First, what exactly is anonymous street art? It is simply impossible to determine an exact definition. If one were to Google “anonymous street art,” the first two pages are filled with various articles on Banksy. Is Banksy really anonymous? Nobody knows his (assuming it’s one person) real identity, yet, he has become enough of a celebrity that many argue that his work, which was first created illegally, should be protected or preserved. Clearly, Banksy is not anonymous in the traditional use of the word, but in the street art culture, he invented it. The style of his art revolves around his hidden identity and his signature, a route which many street artists have copied. Both Keith Haring’s subway drawings to Shepard Fairey’s OBEY were anonymous until they were discovered. Perhaps that is the idea after all, a game avoiding discovery.
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So the question remains, at what point does a street artist stop being anonymous? Is all street art anonymous until it becomes more popular? It seems impossible to truly define what is anonymous street art.
But maybe that’s not the point. Perhaps anonymity comes as a result of artists not wanting to be discovered. Perhaps living in the shadows allows an artist to release all inhibitions and truly self express without being hindered by definition.
Coming across an anonymous piece of street art provokes a certain surge of excitement, finding something new that perhaps no one else has ever seen. Without the artist’s identity, without a date, the work seems mysterious as if it just appeared there by itself. In a world where throughout art history, the work is s0 intricately connected to identity, viewing anonymous street art is an almost liberating, new experience that revolutionizes art and the culture associated. .
For example, when art is discussed in school, students are taught to memorize the artist’s name, title of the work, and date. For art-history, the identity of the artist is integral to understanding the work and how the artist’s work progresses over their life or in relation to the different art historical movements.
One of the pivotal reasons that anonymous street art appeals to so many people is its backlash, or rebellion against the historical art-viewing process. Many indoctrinated art history students and teachers express they have a tough time processing these anonymous street works, and many of them, as a result, are leaders in efforts to discontinue street art overall. Barring the fact that street art is still widely ignored by universities, the anonymity of the artist is a concept still adamantly rejected by professionals in the art industry.
That being said, imagine if all of art history was taught without the identity of the artist. Suddenly, all of art would be open to wider interpretations without being stuck in a meaningless cycle of artistic movements and personalities. A whole new world of limitless meaning is created without the boundary of a “right” answer. Anonymous street art radically poses the question of how much an artist’s identity really matters to art-viewing.
Separate from both legal art and graffiti, anonymous street art sets up a complex relationship with the viewer who wants to both appreciate the work and find out who the artist is. But in the end, does it matter if the artist’s name is known? What does one get from a name? There are those who may obsessively try to figure out who did the work and where they come from, but for some, the art is enough and the anonymity is part of the masterpiece.
I’m lucky enough to know an anonymous street artist personally. His work can be seen in and around a multitude of cities in multiple countries to which he bears no credit, no permanent ownership, no control over his audience. To him, and others like him, his real-life Clark Kent/Superman-esque secret is far more important than any of that.
*Disclaimer: I will refer to the artist as “he” throughout this article in order to respect the artist’s wishes to remain anonymous.
This street artist thrives off random thought, impulse, and his incredibly unique pattern making talent. Ostertag is a collection of stickers, in various sizes and shapes, some typed, some individually marked splashed around cities on poles, bike stands, walls, mailboxes, nearly any blank space he can find, really.
The simplicity of his simultaneously intricate work is remarkable. His work is absolutely unmistakable and hard to miss. An original Ostertag design will either read a certain, quirky random message, or will leave viewers staring, trying to decode a hidden message/language impeded in the patterns. His work is impossible to replicate, not one design is like the next, which is what makes these designs, or any art for that matter, so impressive. Ostertag’s casual approach to displaying his designs, is emblematic of the true essence of street art. A rebellion against pretension.
It wasn’t until I met this artist when I really understood the thrill and excitement of street art. How it is a lifestyle, a passion, a whole secret world, and at the same time one can have an entirely separate identity void of art of any kind. Lawyers, doctors, janitors, just about anyone could have one occupation and life and be a world famous street artist at the same time without anyone knowing.
Leaving a piece of you somewhere is a privlage unlike anything else and that’s exactly what street art is: the ability to leave ones own, personal mark on the world. Whenever I visit this artist I take some stickers with me that, in efforts to spread his work, he lets me post them along my many travels wherever I wish.
I’ll never forget walking down the streets of Paris last month, a city I’d never visited before, and doing a double-take after seeing an Ostertag sticker on a brown pole in the middle of the street. I knew I was walking where Ostertag once walked and that, to me, was when I finally understood what street art is capable of making one feel. It makes one feel a connection, a sense of ownership of unchartered territories, a sense of belonging, a feeling of influence, an unrivaled ability to touch lives, something every human longs for.
Ostertag kindly offered to do an exclusive interview for “Streetheart” last week. Of course, the interview had to be conducted using only audio in order for Ostertag to continue his anonymous crusade around the world leaving his mark on every street corner and street sign for years to come.
From a ship in the South China Sea, to the cost of health care in the United States, to various company websites, the range of subjects is broad, but the common thread is the form of multimedia storytelling: a somewhat new integration of text, video, photography and graphics.
These features, for the most part created in the hours and days after the events, answer the most basic questions (i.e. what and where and when) but also to demonstrate the scale of the news but in a completely new, more efficient way and make information through websites or blogs easily and efficiently accessible to the public.
The visual explanations come in all forms, including video, motion graphics and hand-drawn metaphors. The images and interactivity in these features are the central elements around which the stories are built. Covering nearly any subject, charts, maps, diagrams and tutorials fit into this grouping of visualization features.
Multimedia storytelling, as we learned in class, is definitely not the easiest thing to do but it seems most successful websites and most aesthetically pleasing layouts have an aspect of digital storytelling incorporated in some way. Including video, or voice recording largely enhances the way a story is told which is one reason multimedia storytelling is so impactful. It takes journalism to an entirely new level; it is, in my opinion the new frontier for journalism of all kinds.
There are thousands of examples of multimedia storytelling on the internet. We see them every single day and probably don’t even notice. I know I certainly did not before learning about it, now I notice it everywhere. For example, this past February marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and there was no shortage of compelling multimedia to pay tribute to those who died there. Perhaps one of the most innovative was an interactive video developed by BBC News. The presentation includes dramatic footage, compelling narrative and interactive features that allow viewers to choose which parts of the story they want to explore further. It’s worth noting that BBC editors couldn’t have picked a better story for this format because the enhanced interactivity creates a dramatic sense of connectedness, changing video viewing from a passive experience to one of deeper physical and emotional engagement.
MOCA’s“Art in the Streets” is generating controversy on the theme of art and crime: Should a museum “glorify” criminal activity? It’s not entirely academic. At least one artist in the show, the French-born Invader, has apparently been placing his trademark video-game mosaics in downtown L.A. For the record, that’s nothing new. Long before the MOCA show, the well-travelled Invader placed mosaics on the Hollywood Sign and Randy’s Donuts (left).
Practically all of the artists in the MOCA show have tagged or otherwise ignored property rights, and many still do. On the other hand, the only illegally created works in the show would seem to be a few Keith Haring subway drawings—which New Yorkers, who know from graffiti, mostly adored. Many Haring drawings were peeled from subway walls by collectors illegally, and preserved as art. That’s probably how they ended up at MOCA.
The MOCA show doesn’t take a position on the ethics of using someone else’s property for art. Which is what most critics are faulting it for. Among those critics, journalist Heather Mac Donald, in the City Journal, condems the “conscience-less amorality of “Art in the Streets”.” She goes on to call everyone in the show a “graffiti vandal” and notes, “many photos feature vandalized property.“
Art shows aren’t generally in the business of offering legal advice and moral guidance. How many El Greco shows take a “position” on the Spanish Inquisition? That doesn’t mean that the curators are secret Spanish Inquisition sympathizers. It just means that they’re chronicling art history the way it happened, not the way we wish it had happened.
The Los Angeles Times interviewed former LAPD Chief William J. Bratton stating, “If you want to be an artist, buy a canvas.”
MOCA representatives have defended this initiative explaining, “We want to put out an inspirational message: If you harness your talent you can be in a museum someday, make a contribution and a living from it.”
To me, street art is a very democratic form of art. If it’s considered “garbage” then someone’s going to paint over it quickly but if it’s a “masterpiece” then no-one would dream of painting over it. MOCA, to me, is simply just acclimating to the times and preserving what might otherwise be destroyed by governments. So much goes into making a piece of street art. Yet its transient nature puts it at risk of being scrubbed out and lost forever. This is today’s art. This is our generation’s art and deserves to be honored and exhibited.
MOCA San Diego’s Hugh Davies, who did a Shepard Fairey show, is less upbeat but takes a similarly economic perspective:
“There’s an anarchic culture that doesn’t want to go through the chain of going to art school, [then getting into a] gallery and museum. It’s like, ‘I want to do it in my own way, I’m not in it for the market.’“
I think that idea is something to be celebrated, not condemned. Critics can say whatever they please, street art is art just like any other. It is self expression, it is the pulse of our generation and should not be synonymous with crime or any other derogatory term. Nor should MOCA be shamed for deciding to give it the platform it so rightfully deserves.
“In the wake of the global growth of interest in art in the streets, one form of tourism that may soon be blowing up could be graffiti excursions, street art sightseeing, [and] mural journeying,” Brooklyn street artists Jaime Rojo and Steven Harrington recently stated.
If you are one of the many street art and graffiti enthusiasts who couldn’t imagine a vacation without galavanting around alleyways and buildings, searching for that great piece of urban art, I have the perfect map for you. I’ve compiled a list of my, as well as my family and friends’, favorite street art masterpieces in New York City from the Bronx to Coney Island and created a guide for exploring street art in New York City:
First, Brooklyn! The “mecca” of street art in New York and home of hundreds of up-and-coming street artists today.
1. Coney Island’s Os Gemeos Mural: Check out this locale for a dose of Os Gemeos, the Brazilian twins who’ve been in the street art game since the 1980s. (Location: Stillwell Avenue across the street from the subway station)
1. Red Hook’s Swoon Mural: If you love the wheatepastes of Caledonia Dance Curry, aka Swoon, this spot is for you. (Location: Pioneer Street and Conover Street)
3. DUMBO Walls: Big names like CAM, DALeast, Eltono, Shepard Fairey, Faith47, MOMO, Stefan Sagmeister, and Yuko Shimizu populate the DUMBO Walls, a stretch of eight murals sponsored by DUMBO Improvement District and Two Trees Management Co, along with the New York City Department of Transportation Urban Art Program (NYCDOT) and the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (Location: Multiple locations, see them all here)
D. Bushwick Collective: Bushwick is generally a great place for street art tourism. But the best place to start is the Bushwick Collective, a self-described outdoor street art gallery of artists from around the world. (Location: Troutman Street at Saint Nicholas Avenue)
E. Moore Street: After taking in the beauty of Troutman Street, head a few blocks away to Moore Street for more Bushwick graffiti. (Location: Moore Street between Seigel Street and White Street)
The Bronx
1. Hunt’s Point: This 200-foot long mural is run by TATS CRU. This is a must-see mecca. (Location: Spofford Avenue & Drake Street)
2. Tuff City: This tattoo parlor is a popular spot for taggers. Like the traditional tattoo work done inside, the designs tend to veer into traditional graffiti as well. (Location: 650 Fordham Road)
Manhattan
1. L’asso: Grab a slice and see some street art. This pizzeria is graffiti-friendly. (Location: 192 Mott Street)
2. Freeman Alley: Another alley, another place to see street art. The walls beg for tags, and then you can grab a cocktail at Freemans Restaurant. It’s a win-win. (Location: 8 Rivington Street)
3. Centre-Fuge Public Art Project: This is a rotating outdoor gallery at the corner of 1st and 1st. What more could you want? (Location: 1st Street and 1st Avenue)
4. Houston Bowery Wall: From Keith Haring (above) to Maya Hayuk, this wall is a constantly changing canvas. (Location: East Houston Street and Bowery)
Queens:
1. Welling Court Murals: Murals stretch for blocks and blocks here. Without 5 Pointz, that no longer exists, this is the place to see street art in Queens. (Location: Start at 30th Avenue and Welling Court)
In my opinion, aside from more obvious landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building, street art is a must-see if you want to capture the true, modern, heartbeat of the people of New York and the state itself.
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