re: graffiti
When I began getting involved with idgrid[org] I remember there were discussions on graffiti. I forget the details, but since this _project is related to that I was wondering if we could recapture some of the thoughts on graffiti. Problems, experiences?
I have never spray-painted anything. I always felt that was the territory for talented visual artists even though it involves text.

amnesiac
[j] quoted a passage about us being total amnesiacs these days. I was thinking whether that relates to the current "Gallery Helsinki" / "Messaged Helsinki" / [Chalk this.] _project.
It does in the sense that chalked messages are thoughts that linger for more than a few seconds in the city landscape. They are a trace of communication. We are helped to remember and realise ideas. By nature they will fade. The city is the amnesiac? Or do they fade as we forget?
Steve Erickson has a written a book called Amnesiascope, which is about Los Angeles that is about the city as a place for forgetting and losing memories, wheras cities are often considered places of remembrance. L.A. has an amnesiascope, which renders things unmemorable. Erickson says in an interview:
"Yeah, it's some kind of urban expression of the imagination. If the human imagination at the millennium looked like a city, [the book's Los Angeles] is the city it would look like."
posted by [jm.] at 09:36

re: [Chalk this.]
Oh, thought you meant that you've done more than that. Ok, good.
Must continue messaging.
posted by [jm.] at 07:03

re: [Chalk this.]

A2: see snow post below, then click here and then here.
kind of fuzzy, but the water got at it. The best part was when [L] and I were walking home. Me with a slight grin on my face as I pointed out "hey, look at this" and then getting her reaction which was a laugh at least.

A3: no time for chalking on a daily basis, only when the time is right: but I think about chalking on a daily basis.


posted by [j] at 06:19

[Chalk this.]
[j]: I get to think more about "what" I'm communicating
Q2: "What have you been communicating?"
Q3: "Do you chalk on a daily basis?"
posted by [jm.] at 09:56

"So what thoughts do you have about chalking in public?"
On one hand its safe, since its temporary and people won't get too mad about having it around. And if you get approached you can always wash it away immediately and then casually (cool-like) walk away. On the other hand, it all depends on what you write. Sometimes I think I've got to be really careful with the message I'm writing - what it communicates is more important than where or what medium is being used - especially since I do most of the messages in busy areas. What I like more about it is that I know its temporary, so I'm not so scared to write wherever, and in this way I get to think more about "what" I'm communicating in my message since I know it'll last only for a few days.
posted by [j] at 05:30

snow update

SNOW STRIKES SOUTH SUOMI
09. 11. 01.

(sms from jm.)

SNOW WAS HERE.
11. 11. 01

(sms to jm.)
(also seen written in chalk around helsinki...)
posted by [j] at 06:17