The Graffiti Research Lab, (USA), Eye Writer and Laser Tag, mixed media/performance, 2009, Kitchener Civic Square, Kitchener.

 

Graffiti Research Lab was founded by Evan Roth and James Powderly during their fellowships at the Eyebeam OpenLab. GRL is an art group dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication. The members of the group experiment in a lab and in the field to develop and test a range of experimental technologies. They document those efforts with video documentation and DIY instructions for each project and make it available for everybody. The Graffiti Research Lab is known for inventing LED Throwies, which were likely the inspiration for the advertisers who distributed “mooninites” around Boston and Cambridge in the well-publicized 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare. The Graffiti Research Lab is currently housed at Free Art and Technology Lab (a.k.a. FAT Lab), a non-profit research lab that supports artists, engineers, designers and entertainers whose work directly enriches the public domain.

 

The Graffiti Research Lab's motto is‚ "Dedicated to outfitting graffiti artists with open source technologies for urban communication." Eye Writer is the next generation of their Laser Tag system, which first gained them international notoriety. Using an eyetracking interface, the user is able to write or draw on a building's surface simply by looking at it. Eye Writer was first developed as a tool to allow the legendary L.A. graffiti artist Tempt, who has been paralyzed by ALS, to continue tagging. This project has been made possible for Veracity with the support of the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation and Christie Digital.