The Story Of The Creation Of Occupy Wall Street's 'Bat Signal' Projections

[Hissyspit]

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/17/interview-with-the-occupy-wall.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=36761

Interview with creator of Occupy Wall Street "bat-signal" projections during Brooklyn Bridge march

By Xeni Jardin at 11:15 pm Thursday, Nov 17

(VIDEO AT LINK). Earlier this evening, tens of thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters marched throughout New York City, and thousands of them marched on to the pedestrian path of the Brooklyn Bridge, carrying LED candles, and chanting. As the occupiers took the bridge, in a seemingly endless sea of people, words in light appeared, projected on the iconic Verizon Building nearby:

"99% / MIC CHECK! / LOOK AROUND / YOU ARE A PART / OF A GLOBAL UPRISING / WE ARE A CRY / FROM THE HEART / OF THE WORLD / WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE / ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE / HAPPY BIRTHDAY / #OCCUPY MOVEMENT / OCCUPY WALL," then a long list of cities, states and countries and then "OCCUPY EARTH / WE ARE WINNING / IT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING / DO NOT BE AFRAID / LOVE."

A few hours later I spoke with Mark Read, the person behind the "bat-signal." He tells Boing Boing why and how he did this, and what technology he used.

XJ: How did this come together?

- snip -

I told her what I wanted to do, and she was enthused. The more I described, the more excited she got.

Her parting words were, "let's do this."

MORE

[greyl]

1. Awesome. nt

[aletier_v]

2. Awesome.

An awesome display of the creativity that Bloomberg & cohorts no longer possess.

[Tx4obama]

3. I hope they eventually use the bat-light to put up some messages like..........

Tax the Millionaires, Billionaires
Repeal Citzens United
Get the money OUT OF POLITICS
Hey GOP Pass the Jobs Bills NOW
Healthcare for ALL
Restore Glass-Steagal
STOP busting labor unions
Invest in infrastructure and education

ETC...

[aquart]

7. Reverse Citizens United.

It's a decision, not a law.

[eShirl]

10. Hence the word reverse and not the word repeal...

anyway, it's shorthand...

yes, I know, "It's not literally shorthand."

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. +1

[SteveM]

15. Classic guerrilla theater, with a somewhat modern touch. nt

[NBachers]

4. Great article - Thanks for posting this

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. GLORIOUS

[FirstLight]

6. So cool

I got the chills! :D

I love how these things are coming together...REAL and TRUE COLLABORATION... it's a beautiful thing to see

[slay]

8. That is such a great story - what a cool lady to let them use her place for free

Denise Vega - another Occupy hero as well as the guys who put it all together.

[Kaleko]

9. Good info in a comment by an eye-witness on the Brookly Bridge:

JakeGould Yesterday 06:17 PM

Amazing stuff! I was actually just on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and saw this. I went to the main Brooklyn Post Office to mail a last minute package and saw tons of cops there. All kinds. Guys in riot gear, guys just on regular work-a-day uniform & even a huge group of probies (rookies/probationary cops) being instructed on how to handle themselves. Met folks who successfully crossed the Brooklyn Bridge without incident. The only incidents reported were OWS folks who genuinely wanted a fight with cops getting arrested or beat down. But if the OWS folks didn’t bother the cops, they did nothing.

So anyway, I walked over to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade hoping I would see something. It’s really cold out and one couldn’t see much activity other than helicopters overhead, but then I saw the projection on the side of the Verizon building and my jaw dropped. But positively.

The last time my jaw dropped on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was on 9/11 when I walked there to see what had happened. The fact this is happening 10 years later is an odd bookend on this crazy decade.

And FWIW—as someone who was in that part of Brooklyn on 9/11—the amount of cops out there right now easily eclipses the cops I saw on 9/11 or even the days after. There is literally an army out there and I have never seen anything like that in my life. The NYPD seems tons better composed than other cops in other cities, but still it really is chilling to walk down a street and see 100% nothing but cops and maybe one other civilian.

More at link http://boingboing.net/2011/11/17/ows-verizon-building-bat-si.html

[Hosnon]

11. Keep doing what you are doing OWS! For every person there, 1,000 people are here! nt

[Hissyspit]

12. Kick since there seems to be a lot of interest in this. nt

[Huey P. Long]

13. thank you for posting. -eom

[Lucinda]

14. ...

[Pacifist Patriot]

17. I hope people take the time to read the entire interview. Great stuff!

[Luminous Animal]

18. In the 90s the Women's Action Coalition would project symbols on the side of buildings.

Both in New York and San Francisco. WAC was an effective feminist activist organization which, unfortunately, has been all but erased from history.