Parsons graduate Joshua Kinsberg was in the news a few years ago after designing a mobile print system for his MFA thesis in Design and Technology. His initial foray into the public eye came in 2004 during the Republican national convention in NYC where he debuted his bikesagainstbush project as a tool of politcal protest. The bicycle, which utilizes a chalk printer, allowed website visitors to wirelessly send messages of protest to be “printed” on the streets. While being interviewed for cable news’ Hardball with Chris Matthews, Kinsberg was arrested and his innovative, mobile printing unit was detained. He’s back in the news again… the NYTimes reported in March that Kinsberg had been under surveillance prior to the convention raising serious questions about an artist/activist’s rights to privacy. This seems like a great example of printmaking crossing-over into the “real world”- interacting with public and being part of the political debate.
There is a lot of lip service paid to “political print” in the museum setting but how often does print really have any political power? On a completely different note, how long before a company like Red Bull finds a way to take advantage of this technology to inundate college campuses with advertisements for energy drinks?
Like
Scrappy video of the bike in operation available here:
http://www.bikesagainstbush.com/blog/video.html