James Powderly
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| James Powderly | |
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| Born | 1976 Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Street Art, Robotics, and Internet Art |
| Training | New York University, Interactive Telecommunications Program |
| Movement | geek graffiti |
| Works | L.A.S.E.R. Tag, LED Throwies |
| Awards | 2006-2007 Eyebeam OpenLab Senior Fellowship, 2006 Ars Electronica Award of Distinction, 2006, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Off the Record Commission, 2005-2006 Eyebeam OpenLab Fellowship, 2005 Eyebeam Artist in Residence |
James Powderly (born 1976) is an artist and engineer whose work has focused on creating tools for graffiti artists and political activists, designing robots and promoting open source culture.
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[edit] Biography
James Powderly (born 1976) is a technologist and artist who founded Graffiti Research Lab with Evan Roth. James studied music composition at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. After college, he received a Masters Degree from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. James worked at Honeybee Robotics and was part of the team that worked on the Mars Exploration Rovers Rock Abrasion Tool. As the collaborative team Robot Clothes, Powderly and artist Michelle Kempner, received an artist residency at Eyebeam for their project, Automated Biography. The project used small robots to tell the "personal story about a sick person and their partner." [1]
In 2005, James became a Research and Development Fellow at the Eyebeam OpenLab where he began collaborating with Evan Roth. Working as the Graffiti Research Lab, Roth and Powderly develop open source tools for graffiti writers and activists, such as LED Throwies and L.A.S.E.R. Tag. [2] Together they also founded FAT (Free Art and Technology) Lab. James lives between Brooklyn, NY and Berlin, Germany.
[edit] Exhibitions
Selected Exhibitions, Screenings and performances include:
- 2008, Museum of Modern Art, Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge, 3rd Floor, New York City, New York
- 2008, Museum of Modern Art, Design and the Elastic Mind, New York City, New York
- 2008 Tate Modern, Street Art, London, U.K.
- 2007, Sundance Film Festival, New Frontiers, Park City, Utah
- 2007, 2nd Digital Arts Festival, OpenPlay, Taipei City, Taiwan
- 2007, Microwave Festival, Luminous Echo, Hong Kong
- 2007, Ars Electronica, Second City, Linz, Austria
- 2007, Eyebeam, Open City, New York City, New York
- 2006, Ars Electronica, Goodbye Privacy, Linz, Austria
[edit] Detainment in China
On Tuesday, August 19, 2008, Powderly was detained and interrogated by Chinese authorities. He was in Beijing to debut the L.A.S.E.R Stencil in a work called “The Green Chinese Lantern”, He intended to project the image on one of the buildings beside Tiananmen Square, without acquiring any kind of permission from the local authority.[3] [4] This work was intended to show opposition to the Chinese government's restrictions on free speech and their occupation of Tibet in the face of the 2008 Summer Olympics.[5] He alleged that he and five other Free Tibet activists were detained by Chinese secret service, and interrogated in a Russian hotel before being taken to Chongwen Detention Center and given 10 days for "disrupting public order," a punishment that is rare for American activists detained in China. [6] He was released during the closing day of the Olympics, on August 24.
As to whether he was "tortured," during his incarceration, Powderly said:
- I think probably, a lot of people might disagree, even some of my other detainees might feel like what they received wasn't torture. And relative to what someone might receive on a daily basis at a place like Gitmo it certainly is not particularly harsh. It's kind of like being a little bit pregnant, we were a little bit tortured.[1]
[edit] External links
- Graffiti Research Lab
- Free Art and Technology Lab
- Robot Clothes project website robotclothes.com
- Eyebeam Openlab
[edit] References
- ^ "Robot Clothes". http://www.eyebeam.org/engage/exhibitions.php?id=84&subid=91. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ^ Dayal, Geeta (2006-06-25). "High-Tech Graffiti: Spray Paint Is So 20th Century" (in English). New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/arts/design/25daya.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
- ^ "Beijing: Artist James Powderly, Detained - Aug. 19, 2008". http://freetibet2008.org/globalactions/jamespowderly/. Retrieved on 2008-08-20.
- ^ "How to get thrown into a Chinese prison". http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10027448-38.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-30.
- ^ Jacobs, Andrew (2008-08-20). "5 Americans Are Arrested for Protest in Beijing" (in English). New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/sports/olympics/20china.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Artist Tells all about Time in Chinese Jail". http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews8-27-08.asp. Retrieved on 2008-09-02.
