Connecting the Hearts through the Secret Love Project

Anyone notice hearts all over Cape Town?

I couldn’t help but notice hearts popping up randomly on lampposts, junction boxes, street signs and walls around the Cape Town CBD, stickers, paintings, etc popping up all over the city so I did some research to connect the hearts and here’s what I found

Local artist, Michael Elion, is back with another project called the secret love project. It is a social engineering experiment aimed at raising the positive collective consciousness  of an entire city through the pervasive application of a universally understood symbol – the heart

The project, inspired by Derren Brown, uses the heart shape because it is an unambiguous global symbol of love. And as we are all undoubtedly affected by the visual world around us, why not signify and represent a symbol aligned with positive emotional content? Basically, Elion is literally trying to spread the message of love to make us happier people for it

Back to raising consciousness, how exactly does that happen?  It’s subliminal at first; it starts with a positive symbol, a little heart. After you see one heart you start seeing more hearts, you start to smile more or your mood elevates because we are affected by what we see around us, and for once it’s something we can all identify with, it knows no bounds

The project which is one of the World Design Capital 2014 projects, started simply with heart stickers. It has evolved to so many other things and the hearts are infused into other projects; car guard bibs, bottled water, heart tattoos, love posters, gold teeth hearts, it’s endless. Michael says that he hopes that it moves from being secret to never-ending

More info in their own words:

We are all influenced by the things we see every day; our moods, actions and behaviours are affected by the visual world around us. Is it possible to positively influence the collective consciousness of an entire city through the ubiquitous placement of a commonly understood symbol? A symbol that signifies positive thought processes and is understood across cultural and linguistic barriers.

The heart shape has become an unambiguous symbol of love, globally. It signifies a feeling, represents a mode of perception, and is aligned with positive emotional content. If we notice this symbol everywhere we go in a city, will it influence our perception of the city itself and even change our mood slightly? And could this in turn influence our thought patterns and feelings and possibly influence our actions?

The project operates subliminally but at a conscious level it’s a giant collaboration with a feel-good factor for anyone and everyone who believes in the simple idea of sharing and spreading love. Sticking a heart to your car, or office window or post-box, or front door is simply saying “i like the idea of love in the world and I want to share it”! It amounts to a very small but beautiful act of being human.

Every heart sticker forms part of the artwork, and the artwork itself is a collective feeling, an emotional reaction that this particular shape elicits. If there is any doubt in the validity of the claim of the visual influence of symbols on our consciousness just imagine changing the hearts to swastikas or to the word “hate” and sticking those all over town. The Secret Love Project is an exercise in demonstrating the positive power of symbols (visual language) in human thought and behavior.

How can you get involved?

For anyone who believes in the simple idea of sharing and spreading love, Sticking a heart to your car, or office window, or post-box or front door is simply saying "I like the idea of love in the world and I want to share it!"Every heart sticker forms part of the artwork and the artwork itself is a collective feeling that this shape elicits. 

If you are as taken with this project as I am you can get some stickers and paint the town with hearts. There will soon be a heart stencil in different sizes too, for house walls, so all you need to do is make contact and they will come and paint one - free of charge! Now that’s love!

Stickers are currently R5 each and you can buy them at:

• The Dog’s Bollocks – 6 Roodehek Street, Gardens
• The Book Lounge – Cnr Buitenkant/Roeland, Cape Town
• Roeland Liquors – Roeland Str
• Truth Coffee – Buitenkant Street, Cape Town
• Lush – St Georges Mall
• Beleza – Cnr Buitengracht & Burnside
• Peters House – Kloof nek Road
• Villa – Buitenkant Str
• I love my Laundry – Buitengracht
• Tamboerswinkel – 3 De Lorentz Street, Gardens

They also have a market stall at the City Bowl Market on Hope, or you can purchase hearts online from Hello Pretty.

Please check out their website – there’s so much more you could get involved in: http://secretloveproject.co.za/

Street Art Paris and London

Street Art is a very popular form of art that is spreading quickly all over the world. You can find it on buildings; sidewalks, street signs and trash cans from Tokyo to Paris, from Moscow to Cape Town. Street art has become a global culture and even art museums and galleries are collecting the work of street artists.

Street art started out very secretly because it is illegal to paint public and private property without permission. People often have different opinions about street art. Some think it is a crime and others think it is a very beautiful new form of culture.

My love for street art all began when I visited London a few years ago and found Banksy’s work on t-shirts, magnets, cards, canvases, etc throughout the city. Banksy, I believe is the godfather of a new form of pop art that originated on the street. He used a foundation created by peers to spread powerful messages using accessible street art. Anyone can see Banksy’s stencil art, which enables him to reach a large audience and to make strong statements. City officials have the power to paint over works or allow them to stay. Even when his ephemeral art is destroyed, it draws attention to political issues.

Street artists do their work for a reason. Some of them do not like artists who make so much money in galleries and museums. They choose street art because it is closer to the people. Some artists try to express their political opinion in their work. They often want to protest against big firms and corporations. Others like to do things that are forbidden and hope they don’t get caught.

Advertising companies also use street art in their ads because it gives you the impression of youth and energy. The New York department store Saks Fifth Avenue recently used a street artist’s design for their shop windows and shopping bags.

  

In today’s world the Internet has a big influence on street art. Artists can show their pictures to an audience all over the world. Many city residents, however, say that seeing a picture on the Internet is never as good as seeing it live. The street art movement lives with the energy and life of a big city. There it will continue to change and grow.

My love for street art had me exploring the streets of London and France on my recent visit. Personally I think I think street art makes a statement and is used as a way of expressing yourself. Those expressions are statements or reflections on a certain lifestyle. What I love most is how the acceptance of street art is growing remarkably world wide

Paris:

     

Nice:

London: