Street smart: New media and street art collide

Bristol – Connecting the real world with the internet, a new street art project uses QR technology to add a layer of digital information to physical works of art. The new Street Art Dealer project allows mobile users to interact with art they discover on the streets of Bristol: passers-by use their mobile device to scan the QR code found on a particular piece of art to connect to further information about it and, if desired, buy the work as well.

The project is devised by art collectives C6 and Steal from Work, and was funded by Media Sandbox, part of the South West of England’s development programme in new media. Street Art Dealer will feature artists such as Turner Prize nominee Tomoko Takahashi and Graffiti Research Lab co-founder James Powderly, and can be found on the streets of Bristol from 7 July.

QR codes – the two-dimensional black-and-white coded images that can be read by camera phones and other similar devices – offer brands a viable way of getting more out of their street adverts by allowing mobile users to connect and purchase goods on the spot. There’s more to that billboard than a pretty picture.