Aap! - Alternative Advertising Possibilities

The Pecha Kucha Night(PKN): A Celebration book is finally available online for international order.   Pecha Kucha Night for those new to the series is where presenters take the stage to present 20 slides, about which they will speak for 20 seconds each.

Pecha Kucha is now running in over 100 cities around the world in which over 3,000 people have presented their views of design in 20 slides x 20 seconds.

Featuring some amazing presentations by Toyo Ito, Marcus Fairs, PKN founders Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, Strange KInoko, Namaiki, Mark Dytham, Mark’s mum and Sebastian Conran + even Aap!Global, the bi-lingual montage covers the history of the event, and shares with the world this is amazing design “show and tell”.

Aap!Global’s PechaKucha Presentation in San Francisco is available for those curious to see the interaction between Graffiti and Outdoor Media > Watch Now.

We highly recommend the book for fans of the series at 2800 Yen with global shipping.

Even better - we recommend those creative individuals share with the world at their next local Pecha Kucha

With over 5000 downloads of our original iPhone Subway maps for Tokyo, Madrid, Paris, London, and others - user requests have been pouring in for cities around the world.  Our designer Phillip is trying to keep up with the demand and has just released three new subway maps for the popular Apple iPhone.

Enjoy

Download Singapore Subway Map for iPhone

Download Osaka City Subway Map for iPhone 

Download Toulouse Velib Map for iPhone

Other Cities (Tokyo, London, etc)

Enjoy and travel safe!

Make way for the King of the Road. From the “Decotora” photo book. © Masaru Tatsuki

We’re big fans of Decotora - the fun and wacky line of Japanese pimped out buses and trucks. From estranged Godzillaesque monsters to stylish low riding styles with Samuri themes - from Kansai to Hokkaido - count yourself lucky to see one of the pimped out rides in Japan! . They are one of the wonderful elements that make Japan great.

Masaru Tatsuki has just finished a whole photoseries on the topic and is holding a gallery opening and exhibition Until February 3rd. Highly recommended.

Masaru Tatsuki’s “Decotora” Photo Exhibition
Venue: Little More Chika gallery, Tokyo.
Until Sunday, February 3rd.
Open: From 12 to 7pm.
Entry: ¥200.

Via PingMag 

Amazing poster design by Australian graphic designer Anthony Kolber in his new series Reflections.

Anthony explains his work with

“The image exemplifies the snowball effect which occurs in stylistic trends within the design community. The photograph of the figure holding their poster has been adopted, realized and exhausted until it is void of all meaning and originality.

This poster functions more as a commentary than a critique. Its focus is aimed ideologically at the prototypal nature of the image within our contemporary visual culture, yet it removes itself from making any direct critical comment on it.“

Highly recommended.

At Send A Message , a collaboration between Dutch advertising professionals and creative Palestinian youth, web goers can purchase “real world tags” on the 620 Kilometer fence separating Palestinians from Israel.  For a mere 30 Euros, users can elect to have their personal messages spray painted on the fence. Purchasers are given 3 digital photos of the completed work for personal usage.

The revenue from the tagging goes to build new schools, soccer fields, youth centers and other humanitarian projects in the area.

Be it a proposal for a lost love, a web url, or a humorous message this is a great project that brings the world closer to this complex situation in a peaceful and non threatening way.

More @

Al-Jazeera’s Video Report “Painting peace on Israel’s concrete canvas“ 

Send a Message Project Website

With 1000’s of members around the world participating, Windowzoo is one of the world’s most popular community art projects.  

Using non permanent markings, participants release animals into mostly urban environments with the placement of vinyl adhesive “animals.”

From eagles to giraffes to sharks, the collection of critters is outstanding and brings new meaning to the term “urban jungle.”

Stuck on making your own WindowZoo Critter > Learn how with this WindowZoo 9 step guide 

More on WindowZoo Art Project

* Flickr Photo by BAYT from the Windowzoo Flickr Group 

Based in Paris, Zevs the anonymous Parisian street artist has been active since the early 90s.

Aside from his “shadow” work that consists of painting the outlines of the cast shadows thrown by permanent city fixtures - Zevs does wonderful work that “attacks” billboards and other city advertisements to create new interesting art.

His best known work is when he cut out shapes from a a gigantic Lavazza-poster in Berlin and stenciled above the poster the message: “VISUAL KIDNAPPING - PAY NOW!.” He is also known for attacking billboards and other city advertisements, spraying a dot of red between the eyes of models, letting it drip down like blood. He has taken this drip technique to corporate logos as well, and in his first solo show in London at the Lazarides Gallery, titled Liquidated Logos, he presented them on canvas for the first time.

Other links on Zevs:
- Zevs’ Commercial Work
- Zevs takes on McDonalds with “liquidated logos”

Tomoyuki SAKAGUCHI delivers an amazing set of eerie photographs of the suburban Tokyo landscape in his coffee table book “Home.” Oddly parked cars, flowers, and overpowering vines, line small houses of mixed styles in haunting absent photos of Tokyo homes. The familiar densely arranged homes with anonymous street corners are rendered strange and almost set like by glowing overhead street lights.

Highly recommended.

Enjoy prints and photos @ the photographer’s website

Around noon on every business day, thousands stride briskly along the sidewalk of Mumbai’s (Bombay) business districts delivering lunches to 350,000 people daily, at a cost of about $3.80 a month in beautiful, simple multi-tiered lunch-boxes known as Tiffins.

These hard working individuals ensure that the businesspeople of Bombay can still have home-cooked meals personally delivered to their desks — without the inconvenience of carrying meals to work themselves on overcrowded trains — and at bargain prices.

Read the rest of this entry »

Aap!Global is a big fan of street art. Spencer Eakin takes great pictures of graffiti, street art and other items around the world.

Today we spoke to Spencer on Art, Street Art, Advertising, Global Differences and More… Read the interview below:

Aap: Tell us who you are
Spencer: I am married, vegetarian, a skateboarder, straight edge & part time traveler. I take photos as a hobby and do not leave home without my camera.

Aap: You stated in your email to me : “As a graffiti artist I always tried to get spots that were never done before, but get seen everyday.”
Why were you interested in being seen?
Most (but not all) youth experiment with alchohol, drugs and/or smoking. I had three vices: Skateboarding, Music & Graffiti.

Do you still tag?
No

Why did you switch to shooting pictures of tags?
Just to clearify. A tag is just quickly writing ones name. I take photos of graffiti. If somebody writes their name on a mailbox, that is a tag. If another person fills a packpack full of cans and sneaks out to the local freight train lay up, they are going to do a piece.

Where was the motivation as an artist/graffiti tagger coming from?
As a young teen I watch the film Style Wars on PBS and was hooked.

What do you think the similarities between graffiti around the world is?
Kids just want to create & express themselves thru vandalism. The street is thier canvas. There is also the thrill of not getting caught.

Is the motivation for tagging the same in the States as in Europe as in Japan as in elsewhere?
I believe it is. There is different styles, but is the same.

What made you want to track all the Space Invaders? Just for fun?
I first noticed Space Invaders in Tokyo in mid 2001 and started taking photos of them. The first one I saw and took a photo of was gone a week later. That is what hooked me on capturing them before they were gone. Then I came back to Los Angeles and started noticing them here. About two years ago, somebody started going around Los Angeles destroying them. Once I realized that was happening, I went out of my have to find as many as I could before they were gone. Since then I have been back to Japan many times to visit family and spot more of the Tokyo Space Invaders. I have also been to Paris where Space Invader is based.

Who are you favorite street artists?
How long do you have? TWIST, QP, Phil Frost, Kami, Sasu, Space Invader, Revs, Esow, JR, Banksy, Duece Seven, Daim, Colossus of Roads, Revok, The London Police, Mers, Matokie Slaughter, Delta, TheMac, Fafi, Pars Kid, Bigfoot, Zedz, Nylon, Plantrees, D*Face, Os Gemeos, Kress, Revok, Eine, Espo, Giant One, ZYS, Mode2, Jace, Broke and many others.

Do you think Street Art has evolved with the Internet?
It has in the sense that brought street art to people aren’t living in the midst of it.

With the ability for the internet and pictures to serve as a medium for critique?
This is good and bad. I find that if a person has beef with a certian artist, they will go around sites like FLICKR bashing the artist in the comment sections. The good thing, artists are able to trade info and hook each other up when traveling. It is also a safe place for people to look at street art.

What do you think about the intersection between art, graffiti and commercialism?
With art and commercialism I do not have a problem with any of it. With graffiti and other forms for street art, I do. It is because it is ours.

You told me you’re working on a book - do you have a preview to share?
Unfortunately I do not. It is too early in the process. The book will be about street art.

What do you think of the branding of taggers - like Banksy, Colossus of Roads, etc?
Do you mean calling these artists taggers? I think calling Banksy and Colossus of Roads taggers is wrong. This is there life. Banksy is thought provoking and political. Colossus of Roads is a retired railroad employee (I believe he is in his 60’s) with at least 10,000 freight trains to his credit. Each of which has different statement underneath his classic moniker.

Thanks Spencer.

I am off to see an old friend and go benching. Benching is a term used for going and watch freight trains go by while sitting on a bench and looking at the graffiti. Hard to do here is So Cal. We actually walk the line of parked freights.

See more of Spencer’s Photos