Today I have something great to share with you that I’ve been excited to share for some time! Do you recall that one project that Jason Eppink and I came up with? No, not that one; this one!

Well, Jordan loved it, and with his help, we were able to take it to another level. This time we got the new signage printed “professionally”, and we did a lot more of them. It took Jordan and I about a day to assemble the vinyl, and we took another day (…and a good bit of the night) walking all around New York installing them! We had a close call with a couple police officers, close encounters with a couple bars along the way, and very tired feet by the end of it all!

Jordan Writes:

“Back In February PosterChild created an altered placard for the NPA city outdoor illegal street level billboards. He was aware of the fact that these placards were a lie being perpetrated on NY City by NPA as it made its transition to a new company called Contest Promotions. Under this new company, NPA’s illegal operations would be shut down and only those that could pretend to be running a raffle box would remain through a twisting of legal language. PosterChild’s single placard flew under the radar while still informing the public of NPA’s little secret, in a stark contrast to more overt actions we tend to carry out here at PublicAdCampaign. Needless to say, I wanted to see more.
At this same time I had been toying with the idea of running a micro-grant program. The grant would be on a rolling submission/review basis and the only stipulations would be that projects facilitate critical public interaction with outdoor advertising, and cost under one hundred dollars. Along with this small amount of production money PublicAdCampaign would help by tapping any resources we might have which could facilitate potential projects. PosterChild’s Truth In Advertising was a natural choice. In total the entire project ended up costing $91.48 and produced about 40 fake placards. You can see all of the images [Here]
I would like to thank PosterChild for inaugurating this micro-grant program with such a fantastically simple and effective project. In doing so I would also like to open up the next cycle of grant submissions. A clever idea can go a long way, alter how people think about the spaces they live in, and change what they come to expect from the streets that surround them. We hope that even in a small way we can facilitate this process and enrich the cities of this world with innovative and fun public works. Please take a look at the simple guidelines for submitting a proposal.”

I highly encourage you to submit to this new, fantastic and generous micro-grant program offered by PublicAdCampaign!

You can see my “Under One Hundred” project page here!

Astoria Scum River Bridge from Jason Eppink on Vimeo.

As Jason mentioned a few days ago, the repair work on The Astoria Scum River has finally been completed!

So, I am now proudly able to present this fantastic video made by Jason, which does a wonderful job of summing up the project, and telling the story of it from start to finish!

ENJOY!

From Jason’s Video Description:
Astoria Scum River Bridge is an unauthorized city improvement by Jason Eppink and Posterchild:

http://jasoneppink.com/astoria-scum-river-bridge
http://bladediary.com/tag/astoria-scum-river-bridge

For more than twenty years, a leaky pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach submerged more than a hundred square feet of heavily-trafficked sidewalk under a festering cesspool of standing water. Astoria Scum River, as it was called, stretched the entire width of the sidewalk, and as winter approached, the river iced over and became particularly hazardous to cross.

Astoria Scum River Bridge was constructed to offer Astorians an opportunity to safely cross this hazard. The unauthorized bridge was a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria in the absence of successful municipal efforts to ameliorate the problem.

The bridge was made at zero cost entirely from recycled materials: an old work bench found on the curb, rescued screws from a disassembled desk, and a metal plate from an expired electrical component. It was installed and dedicated on December 30th, 2009.

On January 25th, 2010, Astoria Scum River Bridge was the subject of a commendation from the office of NYC Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., accompanied by a pledge to work with Amtrak to re-route Astoria Scum River off the sidewalk.

Two days later, Amtrak workers began construction work. Astoria Scum River was quickly routed off the sidewalk, and within a couple months, custom-made grates were installed to complete the project. The bridge, no longer needed, was de-installed on March 20th, 2010 and returned to the curb whence it came.

Here’s a Follow-Up I forgot to post!

If you recall, when the two phone kiosks that housed pine trees in Astoria were removed, I simply shifted the surviving pine tree, “Calgary”, up the street and reinstalled her in the very next empty phone Kiosk!

Well, after featuring her in her new perch on the site, the empty kiosk was again removed, and Calgary, again spared.

So, well stocked with snark, I got ready to move her further and further around the streets of Astoria, fully prepared to play this game of Cat and Mouse until all of the empty Kiosks were removed- and that might take awhile as there was no shortage of empty phone kiosks!

But Telebeam was a step ahead of me! They removed them all! Every. Last. One.

Well done, friends! Here is my overdue congratulations and thanks!

If you’re curious- Calgary got retired to a deck, where I hope she is well watered and has overwintered well.

So, through direct action street art (Street Artivism? ) two public space issues in Astoria have been resolved- the junky phone kiosks littering the streets, and the scum river, Right? Well, no quite. The scum river has been diverted and dried up, yes, but work on the site has seemingly stalled. More on that soon from my partner in slime, Jason Eppink.

In the meantime, If you like urban guerrilla gardening, like Calgary and Edmonton the lil’ pines, then you will almost certianly LOVE this new shirt of mine:

Inspired by the most famous entrepreneurial guerrilla gardener to ever walk America, Johnny Appleseed, comes this modern, post-apocalyptic flavored update: Jack Appleseed!

Jack Appleseed, born (John Hammer, September 26, 1980), is an American pioneer, a wanderer who walks the sun bleached, lifeless roads of America- stopping only to turn the public parking wastelands he comes across only all too often, into public parks

Based on this stencil.

Another forgotten WCWC! I had a goal to install one in every borough, but I only got Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island. Still need Manhattan and Queens to be a completist. I guess that’s why I forgot to post these- I was waiting for the project to be “done”.

Vidgeo:

WCWC- Brooklyn from posterchild on Vimeo.

One more lil’ forgotten thing on Staten.

Find this, and you’re also probably spending the whole day walking around as much of the perimeter of Staten Island as you can.

Here’s something I was fully intending to share with you, but then… um… forgot about.

It’s another Westminster Chime Wind Chime. WCWC! It has 4 pipes tuned to the 4 notes of the Westminster Chimes. The idea is that it is cosmically unlikely, but over a long enough timeline, inevitable, that the wind will play out the simple pattern of the Westminster chimes!

Because it is partially made with scrap found washed up along the beaches of Staten Island, it doesn’t have a regular chiming pattern and strongly favors some notes over others. I think for this reason it is especially unlikely to ever play the Westminster chimes!

Watch the video, and be calm and happy. Imagine yourself sitting crosslegged ontop the deck that this WCWC is installed under- sipping rum from the bottle and hearing the ethereal, unpredictable notes wafting up from underneath you. Look out at the lights of New Jersey and think about how you never imagined that it could ever look so pretty. Pull your hoodie up over your head, and take another swig to brace yourself from the deepening cold. There. You’re basically now right there with us as we installed this months ago:

WCWC- Staten Island from posterchild on Vimeo.

Hey hey- we made change happen AND we made da paper!

I’d like to thank my partner in SLIME, Jason Eppink, again, for maintaining the bridge, handling all the media requests, and being such a good ambassador for us while I’m out of NY!

What a guy!

Original article here.

Wow!

Jason Says:

“Walking to the train this morning, I heard construction noises and half joked that maybe Amtrak was fixing Astoria Scum River. Turns out they were!

The guys were really friendly and very complimentary of our bridge. Awesome!”

As of this morning, The Astoria Scum River, that long dreaded crossing, is dead!!! (or dying, anyway!)

All photos courtesy of Jason Eppink.

The bridge has been tagged!

While I would have preferred a tag with a bit more… aesthetic appeal… I must say that I’m actually not at all upset by this- in fact, I’m happy to see it. Personally, I think it legitimizes the bridge in a way. Every other bridge in New York is tagged, now this one is too! It’s like christening a boat. Now this is truly a New York bridge, no?

Like people crossing the bridge, It can also be seen as a sign of incorporation, acceptance and use by the community. Here’s another: The other day Jason and I both received a very nice email:

Hello,

Thanks for making the bridge for residents. Our office had a meeting with Amtrak and discussed some solutions beginning with cleaning out the existing drop inlets that are filled with debris. A timeline for alleviating the problem will be developed shortly.

Thanks,

Jonathan A. Szott
Constituent Liaison
NYC Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr.

We were very happy to get such news; here is Jason’s reply:

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the note.

Posterchild (cc-ed) and I are thrilled that the community has taken such
a liking to the Astoria Scum River Bridge. Besides just using the
bridge to walk over the “river”, our neighbors have been snapping
photographs and even writing songs about it!

But your note is especially affirming. As artists working in public
spaces, our intentions and actions are sometimes misinterpreted,
particularly by city officials.

We saw a problem and took the most direct and creative action we could
to fix it. It’s a minor improvement, certainly, but we’re both adament
about the importance of direct action and personal responsibility in
caring for our shared spaces.

So it’s very gratifying to receive a positive response from you and to
learn that your office is working to create a long-term solution. This
outcome is the best we could have hoped for!

Knowing that you’re a busy guy and that your office has a lot more
pressing matters to attend to, I’d love if you could keep us posted on
this project as it progresses.

cheers,
-jason

I’m very excited to see any positive developments that may come out of this!

All photos courtesy of Jason Eppink.

Ah, yes, yes y’all.

Another sweet ol’ collabo from Jason Eppink and myself.

As the inimitable Eppink explains:
“For years, a leaking pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach has submerged more than a hundred square feet of a heavily-trafficked sidewalk in a festering cesspool of standing water. In the winter, Astoria Scum River, as it’s called, ices over and becomes particularly hazardous to cross. Posterchild and I constructed this bridge as a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria.”

Some very interesting things have developed since the bridge was installed, the least of which was the dedication plaque slowly developing its full-blown patina!

More on all that soon!

All photos courtesy of Jason Eppink.