The 412 - October 2014: In a bit of strange local news, hundreds of protractors have been hidden throughout the city, superglued to signposts, curbs, utility boxes and other public spaces. Yet nobody appears to know from where they came or why they’re there in the first place. The protractors come in a variety of colors; each is numbered, presumably starting at one and going up to 456 — though some protractors in between have yet to be found. There’s even still debate as to whether or not these unmarked tools are protractors or just pieces of plastic shaped like protractors resembling the arc of our iconic yellow bridges.
6 comments:
I love this city. I think those are supposed to be bridges not protractors.
This is so hilariously random! It kind of sounds like some fake news story because it's so absurd. I like the way that this article was written because it makes it sound like this huge town mystery that a lot of people are dedicated to solving. The part about "debate as to whether or not these unmarked tools are protractors or just pieces of plastic shaped like protractors" is too funny. It is interesting that someone (or a group of someones) dedicated their time to this project and have still, 3 years later not come out with any kind of indicator as to the point. Even more interesting I think, is the people who have dedicated their time to solving this mystery, like Eric Lidji who created a map of the protractors. Although it is strange, I imagine this is the kind of mystery that will never be solved. Like a lot of art, sometimes it is there just to make you ask why it is there.
So this is quite hilarious. But it is also kinda cool how someone took all the time to put presumably 456 protractors around the city. It very well may be a statement on all the bridges around town (though there are only 446 of them) and that as a concept for an idea is very cool. It might have something to do with math as 456 are all sequential numbers, however I can't tell what it might be. But it doesn't matter, the fact that nobody knows how or why this happened is super cool. Plus, one of the pictures in the article showed a bridge 10 minutes from my dorm, a bridge I walked over friday night, and did not notice any protractors on. I kinda take that as a lesson in attention to detail, but again regardless it is very cool.
This is such an odd thing to just appear. I can only imagine that some bored person(s) just up and decided that it would be good idea to conduct widespread semi-vandalism of an entire city. It's actually pretty funny, but the dedication it took is pretty admirable, too. Although there's a good chance that the real perpetrator(s) may never be known, I'm really curious as to the reason behind all this -- though maybe the mystery is the whole point. Now I'm also wondering what happened to make this mystery come up now; it seems like the "protractors" or whatever they are have been around for a couple of years now, without much change recently.
I have been seeing these protractors for a long time - and have previously tried to research their existence. Although it is a bit frustrating that nobody seems to know any answers, it's also kind of cool to have an ongoing mystery. I think it's more interesting to become curious about something that there are no concrete answers to than it is to be able to find an answer right away. It leaves a lot of room for interpretation by the viewer. And perhaps that's exactly what whoever placed these protractors wanted. Something to wonder about rather than something that is known.
This is such an incredible idea, and I'm so happy that it's still going on three years later. I really like this type of cute, harmless street art, and I hope that it continues. I'm a big fan of street art in general, and I really like the work of British artist Banksy. Seeing this though is a refreshing change from the politics and darker themes that tend to appear in street art. I wonder if there are more protractors, and I wonder if all of them are there. If I was the artist, I would totally leave out a number just to piss people off.
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