Graffiti archaeology

This is pretty mindblowing: Graffiti archaeology. Cassidy Curtis, a brilliant artist and programmer, created a little Flash application that lets you view pieces of graffiti around San Francisco -- as they've evolved over time. He got a group of photographers to share their pictures taken of certain areas of graffiti, dating back years. Then he stitched them together into layered images: You can view a particular wall, then peel back each layer like an onion skin, showing the graffiti that existed before it. You can even zoom in if you want to look at something up close.
It's a lovely interface -- neatly evoking the idea of time passing in an urban environment.
(Thanks to Tom for this one!)
Posted by Clive Thompson at July 16, 2004 06:04 PM
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I wonder if this ties into fascination with old things.. Seeing how graffiti was and how it has evolved.. The "peeling off" of layers of paint..
Posted by: woot at July 19, 2004 11:56 AM
Yeah, it's really cool seeing how the layers interact with each other or cover things up. Everyone once in a while you'll see a wall that gets really nicely adorned, then suddenly is "cleaned up" or painted over by the owner, so the graffiti starts again fresh.
Posted by: Clive at July 19, 2004 3:35 PM
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I wonder if this ties into fascination with old things.. Seeing how graffiti was and how it has evolved.. The "peeling off" of layers of paint..
Posted by: woot at July 19, 2004 11:56 AM
Yeah, it's really cool seeing how the layers interact with each other or cover things up. Everyone once in a while you'll see a wall that gets really nicely adorned, then suddenly is "cleaned up" or painted over by the owner, so the graffiti starts again fresh.
Posted by: Clive at July 19, 2004 3:35 PM