Interactive Street Art in the East Village Creates Unexpected Reactions

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As Nicolina Johnson and Pérola Bonfanti were painting a mural onto artist Clayton Patterson’s door on Essex Street, a man rode up on a bicycle to ask if they were part of the 13 Portals art project. The two responded affirmatively and the man told them that he attended one of their community events to celebrate the exposition of their murals, which are scattered throughout the East Village.

“And then afterwards this guy told me, “Look, you can peel it right off. It’s a sticker,”” Johnson said.

The interactive experience, created by Johnson and Bonfanti, is meant to engage the community with street art and technology. Both artists are members of The Free Art Society, an East Village-based international arts organization. When the artists noticed that their work was disappearing in as little as 12 hours after installation, it became clear that they had unforeseen responses to the project.

The 13 Portals are located on different streets within the East Village and contain large QR codes, which people can scan with their cell phones to gain access to the Oracle. After submitting an email address, participants receive a task, riddle, or puzzle from the Oracle that they must complete to collect the subsequent portal’s location and the opportunity to score one of 64 keys.

“I think the QR code was a great discovery because then we could interact directly with people through the work. Instead of just having people come and admire the work and create their own meanings, which is still done, they could actually connect to the QR code,” Johnson said. “And that is sort of the way we call people to get together.”

The content of each portal is associated with its corresponding number, zero through 13, and incorporates both metaphysical and spiritual elements.

“It’s like a spiritual journey. All of them have a meaning. Each portal is related to a number,” Bonfanti explained. “So if you take number one, like an example, it’s the sun. It’s the beams, the beginning, the creator.”

Portals zero and one were revealed in December 2012, with the subsequent numbers appearing on Saturdays over the summer. When the artwork started disappearing after the events, including the original art of portals three and five, the two artists turned to local design store Boxcutter to create large prints so that their original work would not be pried from the wall-binding glue.

“People are really interacting with the pieces. Someone is painting the eyes,” Bonfanti said of the response to portal number one on the corner of Avenue C and 7th Street. “It was white and someone is painting the white blue. And it’s written in the forehead, ‘The devil is life’. Seriously, I painted it white again a couple of weeks ago and the person painted it blue again.”

Despite receiving such feedback, the artists are not put off by the experience, saying that the overall response has been one of amazement and support.

“Once we put it in the street, it doesn’t belong to us anymore,” Johnson said. “Of course we get a little disappointed, but we can’t be upset. It’s like giving someone a gift and then they can do whatever they want with it.”

After the completion of 13 Portals in the East Village, the artists plan to bring the project to Vienna with a remixed concept and approach next year.