| The Creation Project, founded in 2001 by Hughes and Wilmer, was conceived as a way of challenging outdated notions of what public art is and as forum for new artists and techniques. According to Hughes, part of the inspiration for the group came from a realization of the potential of a rather unusual medium: the writings on restroom walls. While intrigued by the idea that these writings represented a thoroughly democratic art form, they were not so comfortable with the idea of defacing public property, because of the political ramifications of marking public space in such a way that impedes on others' use of that space, even if it is the space on a restroom wall. Through this dilemma came a compromise. |
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| “We realized that you can slip out the piece of advertisement they post in there over the [urinals], flip it over, [...] go to the bar and scribble down your little piece of propaganda or what-have-you, and replace it.” What this is, says Hughes, is an example of an easy way to subvert the traditional notion that “public art" is necessarily either sanctioned or a defacement of public property. |
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