Google Cultural Institute Hosts Filipino Street Art Project

Drawn together by a shared passion for public art, DFP alum (MFA ’13) Kim Dryden and Wake Forest alum Austin Smith, a Filipino-American, formulated the idea for the Filipino Street Art Project before graduating in 2013. Both were attracted to the idea of taking a public art form and amplifying its impact through online media forms. The project consists of a feature-length documentary film, interactive website, online exhibits, short films, and photo galleries supported by a central website. A short year later their transmedia project and its mission of celebrating the power of street art to communicate, empower, and encourage discussion about universal issues is attracting international attention.

Google’s Paris-based Cultural Institute recently invited FSAP to be a featured exhibition in the launch of its global Street Art Project, an online database of over 5000 graffiti images from around the world. Through the collaboration, Dryden and Smith constructed 17 interactive online exhibits featuring different street and graffiti artists from across the Philippines.

In a recent interview with ArtRadar Asia, Dryden spoke to the benefits of being selected for Google initiative, “It brings value to both street art enthusiasts and the artists themselves. The street art scene in the Philippines is young, vibrant and fresh. We were really excited to participate because the work the artists are producing there is incredible and they deserve this kind of international attention.”

Part of the FSAP project was inspired by Dryden’s experience with the Imagination Project, a course offered by the DFP that pairs 3rd year MFA students with undergraduates from multiple disciplines to create transmedia projects. Dryden worked with her classmates to produce short films and study guides on artist of the Holocaust in cooperation with Yad Vasehm. This past spring, Dryden and Smith provided material they filmed with artists in Manila to the IP students who edited the material and embedded short films and photos into interactive e-books. The e-books, when finalized, will support FSAP’s education and outreach components.