Love Your Street: Recycled Paper Puts Love On A Wall

Far too many times, no matter where I go, I see streets so lifeless and out of sync with today’s highly spiritual and technological climate. It’s like they are doomed to rust away while we spend time walking the virtual streets of Second Life, World of Warcraft or even some new Facebook game. The negligence and carelessness we show towards what we’ve built is a bit disheartening, and if you wanted to, there are so many small ways you could liven up a boring desolate street and save it from the jaws of a one day appearing wrecking ball. We have said it so many times before here at Bit Rebels, it’s the smallest things in large quantities that will do the most good for the planet.

That’s exactly what Anna Garforth thought when she was commissioned to make an installation for the London Festival of Architecture 2010. The event celebrated the “Love Your Street” theme, and she certainly managed to pinpoint the correct approach for better and more visual living. Using recycled paper, she created a message hard to mistake. The heart should be back on the street and not invested in a lifeless character in a video game.

Or, at least that’s the message I get from this, and I agree, to some extent. There is no knowing what the virtual world will involve in the future, and by the looks of things, there is a revolution to be seen. By investing in our real world, even though in small amounts, there are huge rewards to be gained. The question really is whether or not we can afford not to. Without the real world, there can be no virtual world, at least not for long.