A.O.C were commissioned by the Future Everything festival to work on the theme of ‘placemaking through the collision of contemporary art and digital media in the urban environment’. AoC worked in a secret location on a grand scale to transform an urban location in Manchester with spray cans, paint and perception altering art. During the festival the location was visible via live video link, with clues to the location’s whereabouts being gradually released, culminating in a public opening onthe festival’s final day.
AoC 0.3 took inspiration from the manufacturing past of the city of Manchester and its subsequent decline once the heavy industries deserted it. Human hands and the potential labour locked into them were essential to making Manchester the powerhouse of the industrial revolution… the skill and dexterity needed to operate a loom is analogous to those traits needed to operate a spraycan. Live streaming AoC’s creative process on the internet was a way of demystifying and celebrating the skill required to create such monumental artwork.