Kony 2012 adopts street art for campaign

Who is Joseph Kony? Did he make that viral video about saving Ugandan children from becoming soldiers and prostitutes, or the guy who flipped the beef patty that went into my Big Mac last night?

With 77 million views, who gives a shit.

Kony 2012 is an American war campaign that began on the internet on March 5. It comprises students and Facebook vagrants who aim to arrest Ugandan warlord and LRA leader Joseph Kony sometime this year.

In the video, Invisible Children founder and narrator Jason Russell says that humans are "Facebook stalkers" and look at each others profiles "without actually commenting" so they can be "aggressively jealous" of each other without appearing "pathetic" in front of a "live televised audience".

Interestingly, the campaign will come to a head during "cover the night" on April 20. On that night, Kony campaign members will hit the streets and paste posters and stick stickers all over the world world to publicise the movement. They will do this until dawn.

It's sort of disappointing that graffiti and street art are used for mass-marketing campaigns like this.

Remember when a street artist helped US President Barack Obama get elected in 2008? And when it got Banksy shortlisted for an Oscar?

I thought street art would always be our thing, a place where we could be different from hipsters/DJs/the creative elite. Street art is that 'edgy thing' I describe to my white collar friends myself in the mirror to sound intellectual. Now my mom/mum/birth vehicle has a copy of Wall and Piece on her coffee table.

Can't believe how mainstream street art is now. F-ck you Kony.

Images: 1, 2

You might like:

■ Lana Del Rey: Born to Cancel
■ Hipster Poster Advertisements
■ That Mazda CX-7 Commercial  

BAHRAIN: Protests escalate after deaths

 (Image source)

Bahraini anti-government protesters have overrun Pearl Square, in the capital Manama, for the past three days in a call for major changes to the nation's political system.

In light of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak handing power to the military only days ago, Bahrain's citizens are attempting to emulate the changes made in Tahrir Square.

Here is a clip of riot police shooting at Bahraini protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. Once shooting begins, the person with the camera runs backward faster than those going forward:

A number of protesters were wounded this week.

Two have also been killed. A rubber bullet fatally wounded a 21-year-old man on Monday and another man was shot and killed the following day at a funeral march to protest the death of the first man.

(Image source)

Is the Middle East falling apart, or is it finally being put back together?

 (Image source)

Tunisia fell. Egypt fell. Bahrain may fall. So could Libya and Yemen. Iranian protesters are facing violence from pro-government supporters, which has already caused one death. Syrians are too lazy to protest. There have also been protests in Jordan and Algeria but 'failed to make headlines' due to lack of bloodshed.

(Image source)

The more protests there are, the more graffiti will be used to spread the message.

Just waiting for Banksy and Above to move in and exploit it.

RELATED POSTS:

Mubarak steps down, Egypt is free

Egyptians protest, riot against Hosni Mubarak

Brisbane floods mural by Above

artist: said dokins

(Plaza del Aguilita, Mexico City)

This is called Avionazo en la Plazuela (Plane Crash in the Square) and was created by Said Dokins, next to a squatter camp.

 

Is it an analogy for the authorities dropping 'motherfucking bombs' on these squatters? How do you attack people that want to remain invisible? Do we follow orders because we're socialised to obey authority, or because we're a 'bunch of pussies'?

Is it a parody of a terrorist attack ala 9-11? Do politicians only throw around 'paper rhetoric' to scare people into social contortionism? Does an attack on squatters always end up 'missing the target'?

Is Said Dokins insisting we throw paper planes around? Is he being 'childish'? Or do we not get how 'meta' this mixed-media installation is?

How many questions have you asked of a street artwork? 

See more Said Dokins here.

artist: mobstr

England's Mobstr does street art in the vein of Banksian rhetoric. He's a master of double entendre and subversion. His words are emblazoned in my mind instantly, like in this staircase, saying something we already know but rarely consider.

It gets better.

Last month a "Mobstr vs. Newscastle City Council" series sprouted up across the blogosphere. It's good to see a street artist/human send messages that keep councils wearing chicken outfits. If councils can routinely lull their voters into consenting to "good ideas" that serve the public good/election campaigns, surely voters can launch their own messages back at the council, right?

Graffiti writing is illegal, of course, and might get you banned from driving, but what about messages written in the public domain that are of public interest? As a voter, i'd like to see more of it.

Just because advertising is "sanctioned" for conforming to a "code of conduct", "does" "that" "mean" artists' own forms of mass communication are less deserving of attention? Let's see:

(Newcastle, England)

I like how this piece looks like a big fucking mess. The infantile disregard for symmetry and proportion, the aggressive splashing of unmixed colours (colors, for the Americans xoxo).

(ibid.)

Paint was applied sparingly to the wall; only where it was needed. But the job was done.

(ibid.)

"OI, NEWCASSIE COUNCIL, GO FUCK YOURSELF. LUV U."
- Mobstr.

street sign

(Austin, Texas)

This is just something we don't see enough of in Australia.

Intelligent, subversive and anti-establishment street art that remains open-ended and unresolved once viewed. It says "think about this", rather than "do this, or you're less of a person" like advertising does. It's noise/static that gets people thinking, even if a rational conclusion isn't met.

This could also be effective/true next to "Welcome to Brisbane".

Via Wooster Collective.