It’s been a long while since I had an update, and that stinks.

So here’s something that I wasn’t intending on posting, but I’ve decided to share because 1: Updates Rule, & 2: The work has just lasted SO LONG. Far exceeding my expectations.

Here’s the story- While cleaning up my shit (yet again) I found a bunch of perfectly good, high-quality, acid-free, archival, dark-magik resistant mat board that I had been hoarding for YEARS. This stuff has been hanging around for at least 4-5 years (NEVER AGING!) as I originally scrounged it up while I was still in University. I must have moved it to different homes at least 3 times! I figured that it was time to use it, but I didn’t have any frames, or materials with which to build frames lying around- so I decided that a flyer box was as good a frame as any, and here we are!

I put it in a box situated in a high foot-traffic area. I could have put it in a box that was off the beaten path- perhaps a derelict one that was stuffed full of garbage- and I would have known that it would run forever, or at least until somebody unusually involved messed with it or whenever the box was finally cleaned out… (would that ever happen?).

But I decided to put it in a high-traffic spot. It wouldn’t last as long, but It would get more eyes, and it would also act as a sort of experiment to see just how long it would last. My bet was a day or two. This is just outside one of the main entrances to the Ontario Government Buildings: a quartet of very large and major Government buildings here in Toronto. It is chock’a'block full of govie-types with good jobs, situated right downtown, and must see thousands of people walk pass daily.

I put this in over a Month ago, and it’s still there. I installed it on Feb 5th. In the first photo, you can see a little bit of the snow from our wimpy Toronto winter that just ended- one of the driest and warmest in recent records. You can also see that the other flyer boxes are headlining “Black History Month” and “Chinese New Year”. The second photo was taken just yesterday.

I really thought, that of all their boxes on our cities streets, EYE would maintain this one.

I suppose that you can never be too sure with these junky things which ones are actually maintained.

Dang, there was a lot of trash in this one.

It’s true!

Returning now to more conventional uses for empty flyers boxes- two of the most prevalent can be seen here: Garbage Can and Sticker/Graffiti Platform.

I stuck the sticker, but I did not put the garbage there.
(The above sentence is to be read in the tune of “I Shot The Sheriff”)

This sticker is part of a “Round 2” of stickers made from the cities gift to me. I’ve made and put up maybe 30-40 stickers so far from the batch. Got about 50 left, I ‘reckon.

In todays update I bring one of my FlyerPlanterboxes to New York.

In it, I have planted an Alberta Dwarf Pine- Hopefully it will do well in the cold weather coming. I have named her “Alberta”, and I hope someone will decorate her if she makes it ’till Christmas! Here is a photo of Alberta on the train!

Wee! Alberta is HEAVY.

So if you are new to these FlyerPlanterboxes the idea is to take the empty & disused newspaper and flyer boxes that litter our sidewalks and put them to a better use than say “Trashcan” or “Space-Filler”.

In this case, I’ve used a Newspaper Honorbox. This is the first time I’ve done this. Before I’ve always used free flyer boxes. For this project I’ve had to pay .75¢ twice- once to open the box and get it’s measurements so I could build the planter box for Alberta, and once again to install her. Add that to the build cost, boys!

I can hear you now, you’re saying: “Well, .75¢ isn’t too bad, The New York Times will cost $2.00 on a weekday, $5.00 on a Sunday!! I’ve never heard of this ‘National’ but it comes at a good price!”

Here’s the deal: “The National Sports Daily, or The National, was a sports newspaper in the United States which debuted January 31, 1990 and folded after 18 months. The newspaper was published daily (Sundays through Fridays) and had a tabloid format.”

That’s why the price is so low, the last time this box could have possibly seen papers was 1992. I remember 1992. Under the Bridge by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jump by Kris Kross, Black Or White by Michael Jackson and Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus were all chart toppers. I slow-danced awkwardly to November Rain by Guns N’ Roses. I watched Bob Saget on Americas Funniest Home Videos, instead of watching You Tube. People born when the last newspaper was removed from this box are about 16 years old now. It was some time ago.

So this empty, useless box has somehow managed to consume valuable sidewalk space in New York (just across from Bedford Station, to be precise) for 16 odd years. It’s held up surprisingly well! Though the rust has messed with the mechanisms- I had to struggle to get it open the first time. I had forgotten; It actually ate two quarters too! Add that to the build cost, boys!

I really like this one. The pine tree emerging from this dead, rusting shell of the print industry is very striking, since trees very much like this one were used to make the papers that this box once held. This box, more so than any of the others I’ve done, is a Phoenix.

It’s beautiful.

I really like this stick.

Do YOU?

On September tenth, Turing was issued a posthumous apology.

This sticker is based on this old stencil. In the last few weeks I think I’ve managed to put up well over 100 of these in NY.

(PS: does anyone know who does that friggin’ kidney-bean character? They’re all over the place!)

Almost the same, but not as good…

Last one!

You can check out the real audio for this box here!

Jason has finished putting a fantastic project page together for our Print After Parties!

You should really read what he wrote. Jason is much more articulate than I:

“The Print After Parties are a series of unauthorized notional raves thrown in the abandoned distribution infrastructure of crumbling print institutions. (They’re pretend parties, not real ones.)

While dead tree publishers loudly lament the fate of their aging information delivery system in the wake of the internet, enterprising trailblazers have found cheaper, faster ways to successfully meet public demand for celebrity gossip and sex scandals without razing forests, filling dumps, or obsessing over boring foreign affairs.

Abandoned by floundering media conglomerates, thousands of neglected newsracks command valuable real estate on busy street corners across New York City, remnants of diminishing demand and a disintegrating economy. Many have already been reclaimed and transformed by urban alchemists, whether as canvases for stickers and paint or clever conceptual works that turn the once important vessels of information into repositories for garbage.

The Print After Parties continue this line of collaboration with blinking LEDs, disco balls, cut-out silhouettes, and handheld radios. When the last vestiges of a collapsed empire litter the landscape, there’s only one thing to do: throw a bumpin’ party and dance on the ruins.”

You also need to check out the incredible video Jason put together!