Hackers <3 Graffiti

I found my first glimpse into Evan Roth's world earlier this week, when I stumbled upon this post on Above Ground Magazine's site. And a fascinating world it is. His GML (Graffiti Markup Language) is a specifically formated XML file designed to be a common open structure for archiving gestural graffiti motion data into a text file. As Roth explains, "Because graffiti is threatening to corporate and governmental control of space they have branded it as ‘gang related’, ‘vandalism’, a ‘quality of life offense.’ By digitizing the written form and representing it in an analytical, thoughtful, and expressive way, these stigmas recede into the background creating an environment where the viewer is free to explore form and content untainted."

Roth has been instrumental in the creation of a number of "graffiti analysis" tools, including including the iPhone/iPod Touch app Dust Tag, which allows users to capture and upload tags, the Graffiti Analysis website, which provides instructions on how to capture one's own gestures with a DIY "marker and mounted flashlight" setup, and 000000book.com, an online digital "blackbook" that acts as a repository for tags captured using Dust Tag and the Graffiti Analysis rig.

Roth is one of the co-founders of the Graffiti Research Lab and F.A.T. (Free Art & Technology), Brooklyn's "first and only R&D lab for the public domain", and his site is the number one return for a google search for "bas ass mother fucker."

One of my favorite finds while digging through the F.A.T. website were the GML promotional stickers pictured here.  I love the layers of meaning created by putting the stickers up on the street: the obvious promotional use for GML; and the "flip" of bringing the GML markup to the street, as GML was primarily developed to analyse graffiti "codes" on the street. By bringing the GML language back to the street, it's creators are simultaneously promoting a new way of analyzing graffiti AND participating in the creation of graffiti itself.

[Note that all images on the F.A.T. website are hosted through the FuckFlickr "narc-free image gallery" developed by members of F.A.T.]