RNC protests: Bikes Against Bush organizer arrested

Xeni Jardin @ Boing Boing
RNC protests: Bikes Against Bush organizer arrested

A post on an indymedia website says activist Joshua Kinberg -- inventor of a wireless, bike-mounted, dot-matrix printer for spraying protest messages in the street -- was arrested yesterday at the RNC in NYC. At the time, he was reportedly being interviewed by Ron Reagan, covering the convention for MNSBC.

Kinberg's invention allows users to spray messages transmitted to the bike-printer by way of the 'Net or SMS. They're painted in a water-soluble chalk solution that washes away with water (not spray-paint, as misreported elsewhere). Link to indymedia post, Link to previous BB post about Bikes Against Bush, Link to August 02 Wired News story with background on Kinberg's invention, Link to yesterday's NYT piece on Bikes Against Bush, and link to a torrent identified as video coverage of the incident, via DV Guide. (Thanks, Patricia and el norm)

I think I saw this device at Ars Electronica a few years ago. I have a feeling that at the time it wasn't mounted on a bike. I remember thinking, "What a cool idea. I wonder if it will ever be used for something useful." I love it when political art projects/proposals get put into real world action. It's too bad that they confiscated the bike before it was used "in the wild." I wonder whether this bogus arrest will end up getting this project more press than if they hadn't arrested him...

3 Comments

01. Gevorgian - Aug 30, 2004 - 14:20

hehe, this is a such a funny machine! :D

02. katherine - Aug 31, 2004 - 01:38

That wasn't Josh Kinberg's "Bikes Against Bush" that you saw at Ars Electronica. it was the Institute of Applied Autonomy's GraffitiWriter". To his credit Kinberg references the project in his thesis.

03. Joi Ito - Aug 31, 2004 - 07:27

Thanks katherine! Mystery solved. I did a bunch of quick Googling on Ars Electronica for Joshua Kinberg looking for a link and now I know why I didn't find it.

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check your chalk: you might be a terrorist from meta-roj blog
August 30, 2004 1:25 PM

covered well, all over the web and [hopefully] major media, the magical chalk-matrix message printing bicycle has been impounded and its owner/operator was detained on unspecified charges. Activist bike creator Joshua Kinberg arrested [indymedia, augus... Read More

Bikes Against Bush organizer arrested from Smoking Life
August 30, 2004 6:46 PM

Joi Ito's Web: RNC protests: Bikes Against Bush organizer arrested: "Kinberg's invention allows users to spray messages transmitted to the bike-printer by way of the 'Net or SMS. They're painted in a water-soluble chalk solution that washes away w... Read More

Painting the town wet from Applied Abstractions
August 31, 2004 7:49 PM

The note from Joi Ito's web about the arrest of the organizer of something called Bikes Against Bush is interesting (aside from the fact that you can get arrested for being in NY with a bicycle nowadays.) The technology of the dot-matrix printerbike is... Read More

Why demonstrations? from BookBlog
September 5, 2004 9:29 AM

Demonstrations were among the main reasons why I was politically agnostic in high school and college. The student bodies were... Read More

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