After claiming he saw his friends injured in pothole-related bike accidents, one anonymous resident has taken matters into his own hands.
He goes by Wanksy. And using what appears to be an industrial level chalk, he draws penises around the potholes, creating moments of visual terrorism that the city can’t ignore. [...]
within 48 hours of Wanksy’s efforts, many of Manchester’s problematic potholes, which had been a nuisance for years, were filled. Within a week, even more were fixed.
— fastcodesign.com
This recent case of vandalism for the public good, albeit juvenile and a bit obscene, seems to have gotten the job done. It's hard to make the case that this is the best tactic for enacting public safety measures, but Wanksy seems to have hit a sweet spot of using public shaming and vandalism to increase awareness and provoke action. Plus, it's way funnier than a hashtag.
Here are a few examples of Wanksy's public work:
Related: "Kant is a moron" graffitied on the philosopher's home
26 Comments
OK, I'm totally adding this guy to my AIA National talk on how citizens can transform their cities with small, personal actions.
Beware Minneapolis, this is coming your way.
He's in the penile system even if he doesn't get caught.
I'm here all week... make sure tip your waitress...
Nice one, Citizen! Do you think it's a hard job? How long does he need to recover after finishing one?
Donna, stop it, you're killin' me!
A Twitter reader made a good joke too, but I'll let him post it here himself...
Do you think the size of the pothole matters?
Those municipal service workers need to stiffen up and address this problem...
I mean, they're d-erectly facing the issue.
(Am I the only 12 year old on these forums?!?)
Oh, Donna, if you only saw all the things I write, then delete without posting...
Come on!! You guys are no fun.
This is great...
Dick jokes aren't funny.
Now, vagina jokes, they're all the rage in Lithuania.
dicks are easier to draw though...
Dicks are ugly.
I wonder if the reverse is true: would painting the image of a pothole near one's junk get it some extra attention?
What do you do if it doesn't disappear after 4-hours of, euh, cleaning?
citizen: "Careful, honey, your rim might get bent!" Is that what you mean?
Non Seq, good one!
"I'm sick of seeing so much junk on the streets!"
Is that a pot-hole needing fixing or are you just happy to see me?
Now here's a subject architects can all wrap their hands around, 23 posts about dicks and growing (pun intended).
Do the road maintenance guys have the right tool for the job?
Don't keep me dangling here... are all the p-holes filled up or not?
Let us all get our minds into the gutter and drawing dicks on the streets
If all we had to do was draw a dick on something and magically it got fixed then we should all be willing show a little cock more often on our streets.
Magic Dicks,
sounds like an art house anti capitalist emo disco fusion band.
Would this be as effective in the gayborhood or would we have to resort to vaginas in those locations?
Over and OUT
Peter N
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