"Where The Ink Sinks In": Interview with Teen Graffiti Taggers
From Curie Youth Radio | 06:48
An exploration of the subculture of "graffiti art": three teen taggers -- not gang affiliated -- talk about their love for climbing light poles and making their mark with a spray can.
One of the teens in this piece says, "I'll die with a spray can in my hand." This set of interviews, mixed with hip hop samples, lets us hear about the adventures, motivations, and justifications of three teens who call themselves graffiti artists. The teens in this piece are not gangbangers, nor is their graffiti gang-related. They are committed to tagging as a form of artistic expression. The interviews are candid, sometimes funny, and engaging.
Stencil Pirates
From Adam Allington | 03:50
Street artist Josh McPhee talks about the versitility of stenciling
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- Stencil Pirates
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- Adam Allington
Josh McPhee, a Chicago-based street artist and Author of "Stencil Pirates" took time to speak with me after a lecture in Portland, Maine. Stencils, unlike traditional hip-hop graffiti are quick and easy ways to pepper an urban landscape with messages. They often employ a certain base language--a picture and text. Most often people can't help but read and absorb the message as they walk by. Mcphee points out that street art, unlike art in galleries reaches a wider cross section of people for whom art may not be a part of their daily lives.
Art-O-Mat
From Adam Allington | 04:30
Cigarette vending machines converted to sell art
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- Art-O-Mat
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- Adam Allington
In 1997 Winston-Salem based artist Clark Whittington began converting old cigarette vending machines into Artomats (Machines that sell small cigarette pack sized artwork). To date he has over 70 machines in circulation across the country. This piece was produced from interviews conducted at the unveiling of his newest machine in Portland, Maine. Originally broacast on Maine Public Radio
Post No Bills
From Robynn Takayama | 04:33
Are wheat pasted posters informative public art or vandalism?
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- Post No Bills
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- Robynn Takayama
When you walk around town you?re sure to see them: large posters pasted to construction sites and the sides of buildings. Many are advertisements for movies, records, or cars. Occasionally you?ll see a poster that isn?t selling anything. It may be there to rally people for a demonstration or make a point about affordable health care. But no matter what the intentions of the poster are, these pieces of public art draw mixed reviews from political artists, storeowners, and city workers.
Digital Photographs
From Spectrum Radio | Part of the Spectrum Radio series | 05:10
Commentary on digital photograph storage
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- Digital Photographs
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- Spectrum Radio
Spectrum Radio Commentator Bob Lucky contemplates on the letting go of analog photographs and updating his hard drive with the new digital photograph images.
Midlife Web Diary
From Susan Barrett Price | Part of the Family History: The Stars Who Guide Us series | 06:40
Middle-aged corporate malcontent goes online, to be found by mom
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- Midlife Web Diary
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- Susan Barrett Price
At the age of 50 I was a colorless corporate malcontent. I decided to engage the world by keeping an anonymous online diary. No one noticed. The initial dangerous thought turned into a challenge to become more entertaining. The result: I wound up being discovered, not by the colorful world of writers and artists, but by ... my mother.
Dear David
From BSR Radio | 06:00
"Was this what it looked like? Had I been picked up? On iTunes, no less?"
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- Dear David
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- BSR Radio
While spending a year abroad in Hong Kong, Brown University student David Ivanick discovers that his music collection is rather attractive. A true story told through emails.
You Are Here: 1000 years of mapmaking history in one brief segment
From Jackson Braider | 08:50
A short introduction to the wonderful world of maps
Maps set us up to face a profound existential challenge: They can tell us "you are here" -- complete with star and arrow -- but what they're pointing to is "there" on the map. Independent producer Jackson Braider talks with two enthusiasts who tell us that maps are far more than tools to tell us how to get there from here. Ronald Grim is the curator of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library whose recent "Journeys of the Imagination" exhibition offered 50 different ways of seeing the world. Dennis Cosgrove, professor of geography at UCLA, reminds us that "war is God's way of teaching geography to Americans."
A Disturbance in the Force
From Aaron Henkin | 16:00
An internet video game addict loses all bearing on the boundary between fantasy and reality.
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- A Disturbance in the Force
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- Aaron Henkin
I met the narrator of this story at a friend's dinner party. When he started telling this story, everyone's jaws dropped to the floor. It's a tale about a guy who becomes addicted to the multi-player on-line video game "Star Wars Galaxies." Very quickly, the character gets to a point where he's spending every waking minute in the game, and 'real life' (which he refers to as R.L.) takes a back seat. Without giving away a climactic plot twist, I'll say that this story is about a group of people who become thoroughly incapable of distinguishing between fantasy and reality. This story aired originally during a local arts & culture special on Your Public Radio, WYPR, in Baltimore.