Laser Graffiti
With Graffiti Research Labs Houston
Thursday, September 16, 8PM
Location: Aurora Picture Show Video Library, 1524 Sul Ross
FREE Admission
The best treasures are often found in your very own backyard. Aurora Picture Show and the University of Houston Mitchell Center for the Arts present a media archeological dig right from the heartland of Texas featuring artists including Luke Savisky of Austin, Potter Belmar Labs of San Antonio and Graffiti Research Labs of Houston. As part of our annual Media Archeology multimedia festival, these artists will host site-specific media events that explore the past and the present through tools that have been manipulated and repurposed such as film, light, sound, and live performance.
For the opening night of Media Archeology: Texas Focus, Graffiti Research Lab Houston will present a night of laser graffiti, or interactive light. Laser Graffiti is a participatory installation where attendees will use a laser to draw with light on the side of the Menil Collection, just across the street from the Aurora Office and Library. Participate via your cell phone and be heard as your text messages to GRL Houston are turned into graffiti with TextTag and projected onto the wall of the Menil. See graffiti from past and present and experience a live video / music performance piece on the subject of graffiti (Art vs Crime).
The three-night festival not only includes a laser light show projected on the side of the Menil Collection with Graffiti Research Labs-Houston, but also a remix of the famous controversial film "I am Curious Yellow" with Potter Belmar Labs in Heights Theater (infamously set on fire during a screening of the film in 1969), and an interactive live projection on the side of the enormous abandoned grain silos in Houston's East End with artist Luke Savisky.
Special thanks to Art Lies Contemporary Quarterly, Fuze Beverages, KUHF 88.7 FM, Saint Arnold Brewery, 29-95.com, Aerosol Warfare and The Menil Collection for their support of this program. Oh My! Pocket Pies will visit in their graffiti truck with snacks for sale and Pedal Party will also be on hand taking tours of the neighborhood.
Artist gift bag sponsors include: Whole Foods Market, Bryd Market & Cafe, Katz Coffee, GHCVB, Treebeards Restaurant, Fresh Arts Coalition, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, among others.
Graffiti Research Lab Houston is comprised of Kirk Moreno and David Sutherland. This new “cell” is a localized continuation of the values and ideas of the original Graffiti Research Lab in New York, which are now located all over the world. GRL was founded by Evan Roth and James Powderly during their fellowships at the Eyebeam OpenLab. They are dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication. GRL Houston continues the use of GRL projects while also developing & documenting new tools to take back the public space.