Max Zorn: The city is my canvas, packing tape my medium
TED@Amsterdam
Street artist Max Zorn doesn’t bother with spray paint. He creates public art using brown translucent packing tape.
TED Talks Amsterdam is run by a nonprofit foundation supported by dedicated volunteers and corporate sponsors, aiming to organize inspiring annual events that promote innovative and actionable ideas. In 2012, shortly after his first tape art video went viral, Max Zorn was invited to speak at the event, sharing insights about his creative journey, his unique tape art process, and the early success of his global project “Stick Together,” which distributed art freely to supporters worldwide.
During his talk, Max captivated the audience with visuals, a detailed making-of video demonstrating his intricate tape art method, and several original artworks presented live on stage. This marked Max Zorn’s very first public presentation on tape art, only a few months after launching his artistic career.
Artist Max Zorn reveals his artwork made with packing tape live at TEDx Amsterdam.
Max Zorn – TEDx Talk Amsterdam (Transcript)
Guys, I want you to imagine something:
It’s 2:00 at night, you walk around in Amsterdam. Nobody’s around, only a couple of street lamps and the beautiful light mirroring in the canals. Everything else is dark and quiet. It’s a little bit like a theater stage hours after the show; nobody’s there anymore, some spotlights are still on. But can you feel the temptation to sneak up to the stage and just recite a poem or say something stupid to these empty chairs in front of you?
At least that’s what I felt when I was running around in Amsterdam that special night. And that was the reason why I started to get into street art. But I didn’t want to work on walls or on the floor. I wanted to use these beautiful street lamps as an urban gallery, and I wanted to use the night and the darkness as the setting around my artwork. As you can see in these photos, I managed to do so, and that was due to a certain material that I found worked perfectly. That’s great that he tapes me, because I keep going, right?
The material I found was actually tape—not that one—but this one here, just normal brown translucent packing tape. I take this and tape layers upon layers on pieces of plexiglass. I cut out certain parts, I peel off certain parts until a graphic picture occurs. You can see how that looks on a street lamp in these photos. I also brought one example with me—I hope I’m not too sweaty from all the waiting—but the thing is, it’s pretty boring without light. But once you put it up into the light, I hope you can see the effect: it starts glowing from inside almost.
It’s kind of a tricky process to explain, it’s pretty boring, so I made a video for you to demonstrate how I create these artworks. Alright, it’s a little crooked, but I’m actually working on a window here, and it’s very fast-forwarded. Normally, this process takes five days and around 20-25 rolls of packing tape. But you can see how I put layers of packing tape on plexiglass, how I peel off parts I don’t like, and again put other layers on. That way, I can control the light that gets through the packing tape, create contrast, and add a certain depth to the artwork.
The tool I use for cutting the tape is actually just an ordinary but very sharp cutting knife. But now, I’ll let you along with the video.
So, it’s a little crooked in this view here, but well, some things are cut out. So I’ll show you the next pictures, which depict other tapes I made this year.
But I want to talk to you a little bit more about street art because I came out with a project a couple of months ago—it’s called “Stick Together.” The idea was to create small tapes and send them out into the world. People who receive these stickers can take them and are free to hang them up on street lamps they favor or on any other kind of urban lights. And that’s where the miracle started for me. I thought this was going to be a temporary project, I thought this was just a fun idea. But within weeks, actually, it started to develop its own life. People from all corners of the world applied for these stickers. But not only that: there were some who came up with their own creations, and they sent them out to others. There were people posting videos and photos, and others who shared their little street adventures online and offline.
And so this empty stage I was talking about earlier started to fill up with more and more people. And it wasn’t like a performing artist on one side and just a listening audience on the other side. We all interacted with each other, and we all supported and inspired each other. And I know that art can do that—I’ve heard that art can bring people together regardless of their background. But I’ve never experienced that kind of effect before in my life in that intensity. And it is a great experience, and I thank everybody who was part of the project so far. And I can just encourage you guys to join if you like.
Thank you.
[Slides show examples of the stickers Max sent out. Applause.]
Sources
https://youtu.be/2h_4WSsu0EA?si=JWLbeT9lsipTkQ20
http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Max-Zorn-The-city-is-my-canvas;TEDAmsterdam