Anna Gray +
Ryan Wilson Paulsen
Spreading Rumours
2014
With the collective Spreading Rumours* we organized and produced collaborative, public projects that originated from our desire for art to function in a responsive relationship to cultural and political happenings taking place in the city of Portland and beyond. To see more, click the images below. ------->
Spreading Rumours - Confetti Leaflets:
Ten participants were invited to participate in a two-part workshop to create a series of hand-stamped confetti leaflet propaganda that was anonymously and autonomously distributed by ground, book, wind, air etc. across the city and beyond. Each leaflet design targeted a particular issue or location. Participants included Roger Peet, Liam Drain, Ally Drozd, Joel Sverjen, Danny Mackin, Maddy Freeman, Emily Squires, Sara Swetzoff, and Calder Paulsen.
Spreading Rumours - Spam Poetry:
With some suggestive prompts in mind, 4 writers: Morgan Ritter, Brian Mumford, Adam Rothstein, and Sam Lohmann, were invited to compose a series of 150-character poems that were sent via text message as (SPAM POETRY) to over 6,000 anonymous recipients in the 503 area code during December 2014. Thematic prompts included: Surveillance and data mining of the body and brain; The paradoxical intersection of intimacy and publicity in the technology we call phone; Privacy, the imagined and felt boundaries of personal space and the sensation of exposure.
Spreading Rumours - Sign|Tents:
Right 2 Survive, Amy Harwood & Ryan Pierce, Sharita Towne, Stephanie Syjuco, and Shani Peters were invited to create designs for a series of sculptural outposts that could address or pose questions about private property, public space, and development. The sign/tents were installed at street-level on lawns and lots around the city of Portland.
*Spreading Rumours is a collaboration between Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Ariana Jacob, and Garrick Imatani and it was supported by PICA’s Precipice Fund, the Calligram Foundation/Allie Furlotti, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.