May 2009: Stick My World!

While you're sending a sticker pack to The Figurehead Experiment's end of the month Sticker Expo, throw an extra pack in for Stick My World! Street artist and founder Omino 71 explains the previous Stick My World! events and hopes you'll participate this year. He writes:

“Omino 71 launched the first STICK MY WORLD in late 2007. The project transformed an old Vespa Px in our installation of ‘sticker-art’. The old scooter was to be part of a traveling exhibition. It contained contributions from emerging artists and designers from all over the world. We made use of the disruptive, communicative, informative, and creative social network, Web 2.0.” 

“The project was developed on Flickr, spreading the message ‘Your art + my scooter = our artwork on the road.’ In just two months, we received around 200 works from all types of artists: sticker artists, street artists, contemporary painters, illustrators, designers, marketing guerrillas, photographers, poets, each with a different contribution. Urban Folklore wrote, ‘The miscellany of "colored things” has become a meeting point for several different subcultures.’” 
“Publications like Stuck Up Magazine, My Paper, and Frizzi Frizzi (our own magazine) advertised the project, along with several blogs all over the planet, from the U.S. and Russia to the Philippines. The echo highlighted the potential of this type of event, which not only involved street artists but also individual communities. Any person who had an interest in becoming internationally visible could participate.”   

“Finally, this first project laid the foundation for the establishment of a 200-strong international artists network.” 

“STICK MY SURFBOARD followed in July 2008. It was an experiment filled with fashion shows, photography exhibits, and sneaker customization all packed onto the beach at Ostia. With this new surfboard theme, the number of participants doubled. The whole event was coordinated in about three weeks and had little promotion other than word of mouth through sticker artists.” 

“The success of both events led to Stick My Car in October 2008. Thousands gathered in Serata to customize the protagonist of the evening: an old Panda 750, an icon of the ‘poor street’ of the eighties. The car was entirely covered with stickers and still circulates the streets of the capital.” 
“The STICK MY CAR event was organized in just over two months by a self-funded team. For Omino 71, the opportunity has been invaluable. Artists NoBrain, Satoboy, Gianzo, and Cut & Paste contributed to the overall management of the event and still managed to sticker simultaneously. Over the years, the movement has grown to include a MySpace page, a website, and a Flickr page.” 
Grazie, Omino! While the medium of choice is a surprise, e-mail him to get the mailing details and where you need to be on the big night if you're in Italy. Now I have to run or I will be late for work. Again. Whoops!