Graffiti Research Lab, founded by Evan Roth and James Powderly during their fellowships at the Eyebeam OpenLab, is an art group dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication. The members of the group experiment in a lab and in the field to develop and test a range of experimental technologies. They document those efforts with video documentation and DIY instructions for each project and make it available for everybody.
The Graffiti Research Lab is particularly well-known for inventing LED Throwies, which were likely the inspiration for the advertisers who distributed mooninites around Boston and Cambridge in the well-publicized 2007 Boston Mooninite Scare.
The Graffiti Research Lab is currently housed at Free Art & Technology Labs (a.k.a. FATLAB), a non-profit research lab that supports artists, engineers, designers and entertainers whose work directly enriches the public domain.
Localized cells were founded in Vienna[1], Amsterdam[2], and Mexico[3], copying and extending the work of the NY based organization. For example, the inventions are reproduced and deployed locally and the exhibition of the MBU at Prix Ars Electronica was done in cooperation with GRL Vienna. The cells cooperate and communicate, but are not one formal organization.
http://graffitiresearchlab.com/
