Interactive Buildings and Public Art

What if we could decide on the kind of public art we want in our cities? I know Indian cities don't really have the tradition of grafiti, but I suppose this technology is useful for only those cases...for now. But I'm sure this can be extended even to sculptures and other kinds of public art. How? I have no idea, I'm not a technology person or an architect from GSAPP but check this amazing innovation out for making the public have a say in what kind of grafiti stays and what kind does not. It's extremely futuristic and I suppose a lot of artists wil have problems with this, but I can think of two instances where I would love for this to work in an Indian city, Bangalore.

1. Dairy Circle has this horrid sculpting, of a man bleeding to death while he has a a bottle of alcohol in his hand. I'm pretty sure that the local officials can justify that by saying that it doesn't get into people's heads if we don't explicitly show the results of drinking and driving. But even so, it's ghastly and extremely disturbing to see that. Wouldn't a large board with the message and with the fine to be paid if caught drunk be enough? I suppose not, but it just makes the junction ugly! I googled for an image and found one. It's not exactly clear but gives you a hint. I suppose we could appreciate the fact that local talent was used to make this and it is for a good cause. But with Applied Things we could vote it out, if we didn't want it, provided technology applies to not just grafiti.

2. The second instance would be at D.G Pump junction in Banashankari. All along the wall opposite to the petrol station is a grafiti, a series of images, that apparently uses Michael Jackson's life as an example of what drug addiction can do to us. It's not clear how the Michael Jackson in the grafiti starts out to be a young teenage girl and then turns out to be a bloated up fat man that resembles Michael Jackson and then finally dies. I can bet it's one of the worst grafitis on the planet. Again it's for a good cause, it tries to convey a message, and again local talent was used no matter how far away the art is from perfection. But at the same time, I can't help but think that a beautiful piece of wall is gone and we have no say in for how long this grafiti will stay on...no say on whether it can be changed...maybe call another artist to do the same, but in a more subtle and better manner at the same time the message the government wants to give out gets across. It has to be appreciated that this grafiti was made in not more than a few months after MJ's death. The local govt's quick thinking has to be appreciated. I couldn't get a picture of the grafiti sitting here in Chennai to show you what they look like. Speaking of Chennai, as dirty as the city may be compared to Bangalore, in iterms of public art it ranks higher. The best example is the gorgeous stretch along Marina Beach. Statues of Avvaiyaar, Bahartidasan, Subramaniya Bharathi, an important Christian Missionary, Kannagi, Tiruvalluvar, Subash Chandra Bose, Gandhi and many more...and not to forget my favourite, the mighty, Triumph of Labour statue. And for most of them the artist's name who was commsioned to create it appears in a tag at the bottom. I'm not sure if it's for all though. The promenade along the beach itself has some interesting architecture to look at apart from these statues.

Bangalore's thing of beauty is it's many beautiful grreen parks everywhere and gulmohar trees! Which brings it back in the race once again.

But Applied Things is a thing to look at! Read how it works and how it can make our cities and its art more for the public and by the public