How's that 'learning a new skill' during lock down treating ya? That's ok, good intentions are fine and also not living up to expectations. Even being a failure is fine as I've come to realise. Where some friends used their time wisely during the lock downs to create or learn new skills, I sat and played lots of PS4 and got fat. I think it was the right decision for me and I'm ok with the extra layer although with summer approaching I would like to get more active and to get out exploring again on my trusty vintage Raleigh racer.
Due to the pandemic there really hasn't been much reason to step out the front door with most exhibitions put on hold while spaces scrabble to meet the ever changing restrictions which thankfully seem to be lifting. But with little to no access to public art spaces the streets have become a go to when looking for inspiration and indeed a reminder of what is already there as I've rediscovered public sculptures that often get overlooked and the various public art works littered around Aberdeen. There's an abundance of art out there both from initiatives like Painted Doors and Nuart Aberdeen along with older permanent works from the Art Gallery collection. If you need some tips then check out this brochure from ACC.
With so many of us stuck interacting via our phone screens local designer Jack Smart came up with an idea to participate in the 36 Days of Type project, a free open project which invited creatives to create their own unique a to z alphabets and 0 to 9 numbers, hence the 36, a day for each letter & number. A quick whizz through the official instagram page reveals the many creative approaches to the brief from designers and creatives at all stages of their careers. Jack himself is a design student in Aberdeen and was a participant in some of the workshops we ran as part of the Kekun Studios artist residencies, one of which happened to involve paste ups.
Seeing the potential to combine print design with paste ups, Jack used the 36 days of type brief as a jumping off point for creating his own unique type faces but the idea of simply pasting them up seemed a bit lacking. The next logical step was to use Augment Reality to bring each type poster to life using digital animation and the Artivive phone app. With 36 designs ready, Jack began pasting his posters up around the city, sharing images to his instagram and revealing just enough of their locations to get me out on the bike for a street art easter egg hunt!
Being familiar with the usual street art locations in Aberdeen it wasn't long before I'd found my first paste up. As I excitedly opened my phone camera to take a picture a browser pop up directed me to download the app to view the posters secret. Here I hit my first stumbling block as my phone seemed to be almost out of signal despite standing almost slap bang in the centre of the city. In moments like this I'm reminded of standing at the edge of a cliff looking down into a beautiful Norwegian fjord, miles from any major city and having full wi-fi coverage. But despite my initial setbacks I was happy to have found my first poster and set off around the town in search of more with hopes that my wi-fi would return and sure enough the next poster burst into action as soon as I opened the app!
I spent the next few weeks exploring the city trying to find the more elusive posters, one located on the other side of the river Dee while a few had succumbed to the unusually wet and cold April showers. But with each new discovery came a new animation and also conversations. A couple stopped beside me as a poster at Donside swirled and rotated on my phone screen and I explained the idea behind the project. They set off to find some for themselves, impressed with what they'd seen. I was just happy to be chatting to strangers in the street, a sign that perhaps things are getting back to normal.
It's been great to follow the project and to explore the city again. Even while out for a walk a few nights ago I stumbled upon another one. Street art can have that effect, a marker or a sign that you're on the right path or at the very least shows that others have come before you. Paste ups by their material nature don't tend to last very long in the open so most of Jacks work will disappear but its not such a bad thing and it leaves space for other voices to speak out on the streets. I've been reminded how much dead space there is in Aberdeen as well, just follow the digital breadcrumbs!
Be sure to give Jack a like and a follow on his instagram and keep an eye out for more exciting projects in the future.
