Nuart is working on an interesting project featuring some of the worlds leading street artists on the walls of NHH from July through September, including an international seminar on street art and capitalism on September 6 with Tristan Manco, Evan Roth (G.R.L) and some of the countries leading economists. Set to be launched by the King of Norway, it is the official art project for NHH’s 75th Anniversary.
What happens when economics and Street Art intersect? Insert answer here ___________________.
What happens if you mash an elite academic institution like the Norwegian School of Economics with an art scene that has anti-authoritative counter-cultural art roots?
Norway’s giant Street Art festival NUART is helping to host the official art event for the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in the City of Bergen the NHH with an ambitious schedule of events to celebrating such a momentous jubilee. Stay tuned to see which Street Artists will be getting up on the storied walls of the the NHH this summer.
Martyn Reed the affable bad boy from Norway curates this new show of urban and street artists who are equally at home tackling antiquated etching techniques, watercolors, drawing and oil painting as they are with a spraycan and marker. Says the impresario “On July 1st we’ll be opening one of Scandinavia’s, and certainly Norway’s, largest exhibitions dedicated to street and urban art.”
Reed Projects Following the acclaimed and ongoing international success
story of Stavanger’s Nuart Festival as well as last years
“Lowlife” exhibition at Stavanger Kunstforening, Reed
Projects is set to consolidate the regions rising reputation for
providing a home for this, the 21st Centuries most dynamic
artform by unleashing a brand new show dedicated to Street
and Urban Art.
Spread across 220m2 of space, Skur 2, a beautifully
converted Victorian warehouse on the city harbour front will
house works from over 30 of the worlds leading urban artists
including Scandinavia’s largest collection of Banksy works
alongside new and exclusive pieces from Norway’s Dolk.
Part museum show, part contemporary art exhibition
and part urban art boutique, Outside In is nothing if not
ambitious, the show will present the myriad of ways in which
Street Artists explore and tackle a multitude of techniques,
both old and new. Drawings, watercolours, etchings, oil
paintings, acrylics, lithographs, screen prints, photography,
film and much more will all be on show.
Outside In aims to question and challenge the perception
that Street Art is primarily concerned with graffiti and the
spray can. A good selling point for gallerists and lifestyle
media as well its detractors, but as Outside In aims to show,
far from reality.
Outside In shows urban artists who are equally at home
tackling antiquated etching techniques, watercolours,
drawing and oil painting as they are with a spraycan and
marker. As likely to be found hunched over a litho stone
as they are scaling trackside fences, “Street” artists have,
over the years, explored and mastered crafts not popular in
contemporary fine art practice for generations.
Outside In is set to be the countries first major group
exhibition (outside of Nuart) dedicated to the most dynamic
and democratic art movement of the 21st Century.
Outside In opens on July 01st and runs until Aug 07
Martyn Reed
Curator and Creative Director
Reed Projects.
“I love art a lot, its a hobby that takes a lot of my time, and helps me being positive and keeps my mind off the more serious things in life,” says prize winner Martin C. from Denmark. Congratulations to him and to Marco C. from Italy who was stoked to win the big prize, “You made my day.” Finally, there is Mika A. from Washington, DC, who is a young street artist there and who sent us a cool pic.
Answer 3 Simple Trivia Questions from last nights Brooklynite LIVE chat with Martyn Reed
Man, that was a blast! The Chat Pub over at Brooklynite was pretty crowded last night with an international crowd of beer swilling NuArt fans all yelling and climbing over each other to grab the ear of the guest of honor. Peeps who logged online to see the World Premiere of “Eloquent Vandals” were happily peppering affable bad boy Martyn Reed with questions ranging from his experiences with the NuArt artists (95% good) to how his little Norwegian town became known for amazing Street Art over the course of a decade (work and talent and luck). All that chatter made it hard to hear the movie and if you were like us, you missed most of the show because of all the excitement.
But, as promised, we’re giving away the movie today to you. Just answer these three questions and send them to us at Eloquent@BrooklynStreetArt.com. The first three people who answer the three questions correctly win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize.
No family or pets or employees or landlords of BSA are eligible. All complaints about the hardness of the questions should be addressed directly to Martyn Reed at thesequestionsaretoohardyousuck@nuart.no. Good Luck! We’ll tell you who won tomorrow.
Here are your Trivia Questions:
1) In the film, what does Dface’s work ask us to do?
2) GRL is an acronym for what ?
3) Nick Walker is from which British City ?
Shot and directed by Martin Hawkes, the film features work and interviews with Street Artists like Blek Le Rat, Graffiti Research Lab, Dface, Herakut, Nick Walker, Know Hope, Jimmy Cauty, Chris Stain, Wordtomother, Sten & Lex, Dotmasters, Zeus (UK) and Dolk & Pøbel.
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We’re really happy to see that this project is finished and congratulate Martyn Reed for finishing his film “Eloquent Vandals”, made during the NuArt Festival in Stavanger, Norway. You can congratulate Martyn LIVE when you log in to chat with him and see the WORLD DEBUT of the film next Monday the 31st.
Shot and directed by Martin Hawkes, the film features work and interviews with Street Artists like Blek Le Rat, Graffiti Research Lab, Dface, Herakut, Nick Walker, Know Hope, Jimmy Cauty, Chris Stain, Wordtomother, Sten & Lex, Dotmasters, Zeus (UK) and Dolk & Pøbel.
Win a FREE Copy! To celebrate the World Premier, BSA is hosting a trivia game and giveaway of copies of the film and other NuArt goodies the day after the show — Feb 1.
* first image of post is a still featuring work by Blek Le Rat in “Eloquent Vandals” courtesy of Nuart/Saft films.
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Eloquent Vandals
Running time : 27 mins
Shot on location during Norway’s Nuart Festival in 2008, Eloquent Vandals
features candid interviews and work from some of the worlds leading street
artists including Blek Le Rat, Graffiti Research Lab, Dface, Herakut, Nick
Walker, Know Hope, Jimmy Cauty, Chris Stain, Wordtomother, Sten & Lex,
Dotmasters, Dolk & Pøbel.
Shot and Directed by Martin Hawkes
Produced by Nuart/Saft films
The small but very expensive (if you are not a resident) and oil rich Coastal town of Stavenger in Norway must be feeling a bit blue right now. Nuart 2010 artists cleaned up, packed up their tools and left after two weeks of painting monumental murals for the town’s folk to enjoy during the long, dark winter months ahead. This years’ Street Artists included Dotmasters, Dolk, EVOL, Sten & Lex, Vhils, and ROA, among others. As in the past 5 years under this curator, the ’10 group is a stellar selection of talent that is helping define what direction Street Art is heading.
The offerings this year were super sized and in many cases bold in color. All of the participants this year were painters, masters at their craft and supremely independent. Martyn Reed, curator and visionary engine behind this elaborate but accessible street art festival doesn’t limit himself to one large festival – instead he marries it with a prestigious electronic-based music festival he created as a result of his years as a DJ. This years’ NuMusic festival featured performances by luminaries like Krautrock grandaddies Neu! and American hip-hop cornerstone Grandmaster Flash.
The affable bad boy Reed took a moment this week to look at his route to success so far and tell BSA about what the Nuart festival is and why it is important to him.
Brooklyn Street Art:Putting on a festival of this magnitude must be a big task. How do you do it?
Martyn Reed: Actually, this year, though the largest in scale, was a much easier production than we’ve been used to. We’ve learned so much from previous events that this year things ran incredibly smoothly. The biggest challenge was the weather in the second week. A good 90% of the walls required cherry pickers, these are obviously booked well in advance, set up, artists arrives and yeah.. we’re on. The walls that required scaffold are rigged by professionals and we made sure that all of this years artists were painters. So once set up, people were pretty autonomous. It helped that we spread out the production period to cover two weeks and also that we had Marte, a Nuart regular, on an internship for a month during the planning phase.
Brooklyn Street Art:What has been the town folks’ main reaction when they see all the big creatures on the walls of their city?
Martyn Reed: It’s incredible, there’s nothing but love for Nuart in this city, and it’s spread across a really broad demographic, from toddlers to grandparents, and from bakers to the city mayor.
It’s interesting because in a city this size anything new, any new developments in culture for example, are judged on their intrinsic merits and not due to media hype or “trends”. The city has a population of 120,000 and though a few will be aware of Banksy, Dolk etc..that will it. The art isn’t really tied to a “culture”, to Juxtapoz or hipsters or the gallery set or limited edition sneakers and vinyl toys and all the other commercial detritus that’s blossomed around the scene. It’s simply art on the street, big bold beautiful artworks that noticeably improve the surroundings. It’s astonishing to me that more city councils around the world haven’t yet embraced and recognized the value of Street Art.
Brooklyn Street Art: You have combined music with the plastic arts. Is there a cross-over between the two? Does one influence the other when curating the festival?
Martyn Reed: Interesting question, but the short answer is no, not anymore. Interesting in that Nuart was established to explore the questions you raise.
The Numusic festival, like many other European electronic music festivals, was born from an involvement in early rave and club culture. Arts graduates social life’s began to merge with their studies and aspects of academic pursuits began to influence club culture, especially with Vj’s, the early web, digital arts and new media. This proved an especially fertile and creative arena for subversives and artistic outsiders who naturally gravitate to these still lawless new frontiers. Nuart was initially set up as a sister festival to Numusic back in 2001 to provide a platform for “cutting edge” digital arts and new media, which of course had parallels with Numusic which at the time was billed as “Scandinavia’s leading festival of Electronic music”. New Media quickly became the baby of Arts Councils and funding bodies around the globe with new departments established to support and fund the medium. Art and New Technology grants were everywhere and as a Techno Dj and promoter with a degree in fine art, I was ideally placed to take advantage of the situation. I wrote the applications and we hired in various freelance curators between 2001 and 2005 and opened up the galleries during the club nights mixing up the art and the music.
I’d had an interest in Street Art through Banksy having Dj’d at Cargo in London where he had his first UK show, 2001 I think. It hadn’t occurred to me until 2005 when I took over curating Nuart, that Street Art was occupying the same ground as these early digital pioneers had previously, with a similar message, greater coverage, mass appeal and for the price of a craft knife and Internet connection. Suddenly new media looked like the bloated expensive state sanctioned art-form it was, obsessed with the technology of production when the real technological revolution was in its ability to distribute. I’d already worked with C6/Dotmasters on a new media show which led to Graffiti Research Lab etc so in 2005 I made an application to the arts council with a view to pushing things into a more street art orientated direction. And of course it was rejected outright..We thought ‘fuck it’, took out a private bank loan and did it anyway.. that was the start of Nuart in it’s current form. I guess the only similarities with movements in music is how the form is distributed, though it’s interesting to note a few artists, Faile in particular, messing with “remix” culture.
Brooklyn Street Art: You have to deal with painters and musicians. How do you see their differences as artists and do you approach them differently?
Martyn Reed: We treat people as people, no heirs and graces and pretty plain talking. We’re an easy going bunch and I think most artists and musicians feel comfortable around the crew, obviously we have to adapt to certain peoples quirks of character, but for the most, peoples social antenna’s are tuned to the same channel. Our main goal is to ensure that the production and service we provide ensures that the artists have nothing to worry about other than their own performance or piece.
Brooklyn Street Art: Did you grow up in a family where the arts and music were a big part of growing up? If not when did you realize that music and art were your calling?
Martyn Reed: Ha Ha, no no, quite the opposite, lower working class council estate upbringing, trailer trash in your parlance, didn’t know universities existed until I was maybe 17 or so, left home and school at 16 and just tried to get on..
During all these centuries of the celebration of high art, of its life-affirming philosophies, the glorification, elevation and idolization, it’s monuments to human artistic achievement and even more monumental museums celebrating its history, you’d think, somewhere down the line..an attempt would have been made to bring this to my council estate. To our lives. Because I know for a fact, art is not only capable of “improving” lives, but of saving them also. Literally.
But for all the grandstanding, the “high” arts don’t run that deep, which is why I’m a massive supporter and promoter of street art.
As for realizing, not sure, to be honest, from a very early age I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, and the “in” seemed to be missing a few things. I guess Nuart is my attempt to provide the community and the artists (and my 4 year old kid), with the thing that I missed.
“Oh, my God! We slept on our own important art movement for all these years.” – Lee Quinones
He was talking broadly about graffiti, but he might as well be talking about Street Art too. New York-based Lee Quinones is one of the most important graffiti artists – with some of his work in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
GRL Arriving at Nuart Festival to Demo the Eyewriter Project
Yesterday the Graffiti Research Labs (GRL) arrived in Stavanger, Norway, in advance of their presentation at the Brooklyn street art celebration called the Nuart Festival.
Rockin the Kan-Eye-tronic GRL Style (image courtesy GRL)
James Powderly and Evan Roth are artists and hackers (the good kind) of technology, always looking for ways to project art without damaging property, but in new and innovative ways. This week at Nuart Festival GRL are showcasing their own works as well as the “EyeWriter” project, which is seeking to enable people who are otherwise disabled to use only the movement of their eyes to create art and communicate.
On hand Nuart special guest will be old school LA graffiti writer Tony Quan, aka Temptone, with whom the “EyeWriter” project has done experiments with the developing technology.
The EyeWriter project at work (image courtesy GRL)
Pedestrians & Sidewalks Urban Art Program – Check out this Open Call for Urban Artists to do a project by the WTC Site
“69 Meters,” by artist Magda Sayeg, on Montague Street in Downtown Brooklyn organized in partnership with the Montague BID (image courtesy Alternaventions)
Call for Proposals
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, in cooperation with NYCDOT invite artists and/or designers to propose conceptual designs for a temporary mural to be installed on the part of the construction fence surrounding the World Trade Center Site, located on Church Street between Liberty and Vesey streets in Lower Manhattan. The deadline is October 1, 2009.
The Urban Art Program is an initiative to invigorate the City’s streetscapes with engaging temporary art installations. As part of the World Class Streets initiative, art will help foster more vibrant and attractive streets and offer the public new ways to experience New York City’s streetscapes.
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Street Art Shrine on Williamsburg Bridge honors DJ Josh Link
This bicyclist lights a candle for Josh Link. He said he didn’t know who the guy was, but wanted to pay tribute anyway. (photo Steven P. Harrington)
A not uncommon sight in New York is the street-side shrine, a public and very personal outpouring of grief for a loved one who lost their life due to an accident on the streets. Currently on the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn an impromptu tribute is sprayed on a city plaque, a photo taped to it, flowers laid nearby, and candles are kept alight. While not art for it’s own sake, these displays have a powerful way to symbolize love, grief, and tribute… while the traffic continues to rumble by.
DJ Josh Link (image courtesy Nicky Digital)
On August 24 well known DJ Josh Link was hit by a black car on the Williamsburg Bridge while riding his Vespa, and the accident was fatal. According to news reports, he was knocked from his ride and died as a result.
Sadly and ironically, graffiti had just begun to appear around town paying tribute to another New York DJ saying, “R.I.P. DJ AM”, who died 4 days later, reportedly of a drug overdose.
In her latest mural, Faring Purth delivers a powerful reflection on connection, continuity, and the complexity of evolving relationships—a true …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
