Non-Destructive Tagging II
Originally developed to replace graffiti tags, Non-Destructive Tagging uses strung paper luggage labels to provide a surface to write on without damaging the environment.
Non-Destructive Tagging is now being used for idea and knowledge propagation through the city. On the 12th of August, 2005, C.O.W.A.R.D joined together with various invited parties at a Central London pub called The Angel.
Soscoon, the Parisian C.O.W.A.R.D, came up with such memorable tags as
Love is… not letting people die next to you
Are you: (tick box) [ ]Arrogant [✓]Feeling sick [ ]An oppressed minority?
A demonstration of an internet dialect.
Sitting on the table adjacent to the main C.O.W.A.R.D contingent, quite coincidentally, were a group of artists, who promptly became involved in tag production and came up with some of the best designs of them all.
These artists made heavy use of a technique where a centimetre of the tag is folded over, then drawn on. The tag is then folded over again, passed to the next person in the circle, and the next portion is drawn on … n . The result is a concertina which when unfolded shows a peculiar mixture of the artists' concepts. Bodies can be drawn in this way, with the first person drawing the head, the next the neck, etc…
Hours later, around 700 tags had been written to.
Outside on the street, Litost and Devo started to lay tags out onto the pavement.
The activity of the tagging group started to attract the attention of complete strangers, including a vagrant, and one person who joined in.
Participants started to fight over possession of tags.
Finally, the tags were gathered up and C.O.W.A.R.D, along with their very welcome guests, set out under cover of darkness on a derive.
The front of Central St. Martin's College was well hung.
There is a huge, undocumented section of the evening which included the tagging of Soho, transvestites, and an interested rickshaw driver.
Everyone headed home, having had an amusing evening.
Meme propagation for ever!
If you would like to take part in Non-Destructive Tagging, and would like advice or information such as where to obtain luggage-tags, do not hesitate to contact any of our members.
C—O—W—A—R—D
An account of the first ever Non-Destructive Tagging expedition can be found here.