It took me a minute to figure out what is happening in this video, but if you look closely, you will see this is indeed the work of Banksy. Hint: what is the dolphin jumping over?

Here’s more from Banksy’s recent work in the Gulf of Mexico:

Image source

Image from Wooster Collective

“There is a kind of attentiveness that can be cultivated and deeply relished, and a whole secret life of the street that it brings to light. It gives to the human-made world almost the same kind of delight that the lover of the natural world (and I am also one of those) might take in lizard eggs, bird colonies, feathers, droppings, rocks, and lichens. It does not oppose the wild and the made worlds but conjoins them, finds their overlap and resonance, sees the wild in the made, pays to the rust stains on an old corrugated iron wall the same receptivity it gives to dewdrops delicately strung in a spider’s web. It includes but goes beyond spotting and classifying.”

From Susan Murphy’s “The secret life of the street,” Winter 2006

I’m continually blown away by human creativity. Watch for exhibit A.

Via Wooster

Give it to Banksy, he is the master of ironic juxtaposition. Trouble is, it’s one thing to be provacative and challenging as an outsider, it’s another to live with the output, i.e. the community is going to deal with the consequences of this kind of provocation. Could an image like this stir up enough hatred and anger to cause real physical violence? Hard to say because we’re not there to see what happens. Everything has a context, even street art.

Via Wooster.

Nike now allows you to photograph a street scene with your cellphone, which then can be uploaded to create a customized show based on the colors of your image, completing a curious cycle from street to the factory (god knows where and under what conditions) and then sent back you for more street action. This is hard to classify because it’s a hybrid of corporate DIY injected with street culture. Given that Nike is really an image company more than a maker of shoes (the company produces advertising, the shoes are made elsewhere), this seems to be another effort gain street cred by remediating the street (as is the case of incorporating new, extreme sports into its campaigns). Now, it would be fun to see shoes made with the colors of sweatshop walls!

By Blu

Via Wooster

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File this one under WTF. Adidas finds a safe rebellion to latch onto to give it some street cred by creating a little action movie about rebel gardeners with GPS, night vision and an assortment of other TV crime show devices. Notice the quasi-’70s-era bongo suspense music. Thing is, gardens take nurturing, building and developing their niches, in other words, an ecological context. Additionally, what about starting a *community* garden? In this case I at least hope once they plant these beautiful set pieces that someone will water them!

Sadly, as much as I think guerrilla gardening is a cool action worth promoting, the ad is so trite and contrived I think most that would potentially be inspired by the idea will see through Adidas’ ploy as yet another tactic to equate fashion with revolution. Rather than pass itself off as a device for urban rebellion, just sell the damn product for what it is: a shoe! And stop pretending your dumb-ass sneakers are a tool for social transformation.
Still in case you are enthused, here’s a link to a nonpartison group, Guerilla Gardening, which may inspire you to do your own action (with or without corporate sponsorship).

And not to disappoint, there are a number of DIY books on how to start your own urban (gardening) revolution:

“On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook for Gardening Without Boundaries” (Richard Reynolds)

“Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto” (David Tracey)

“Guerrilla Gardening: How to Create Gorgeous Gardens for Free” (Barbara Pallenberg)

I beautiful little documentary about a great artist who creates urban portraits in chalk.

via Wooster Colletive

Banksy strikes again. One criticism though – with a diet like that I doubt his body would be so fit!

(Via +KN | Kitsune Noir » Banksy’s New Fast Food Caveman)

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