>>> UPDATE: James and colleagues have now safely returned to USA. Keep up to date with their stories via fffff.at. <<<

Artist and GRL co-founder James Powderly, who was recently in Adelaide for the Festival of Arts to run a GRL masterclass supported by ANAT and Carclew Youth Arts, was detained by Chinese authorities in Beijing early Wednesday, according to a message received by Students for a Free Tibet around 5PM Beijing Standard Time. The message, sent through the social networking site Twitter, read "held since 3AM", said friend and SFT board member Nathan Dorjee. Though that message was received more then 24 hours ago, Powderly has not been heard from since and his whereabouts remain unknown, he said.

Powderly is the co-founder of the Grafitti Research Lab, a project developed during his fellowship at Eyebeam, New York. He was in Beijing collaborating with the activists, sharing the GRL techniques to project messages onto the facades of prominent Beijing buildings using a laser beam and stencils. The artist was detained before the planned launch of the project-dubbed the "Green Chinese Lantern"-in which a beam of light would be used to display graphics and text on structures up to two stories high, said Dorjee. It is unclear how Chinese authorities learned of the plan. 

Also today, five activists with Students for a Free Tibet were detained after displaying a banner that spelled out "Free Tibet" in LED Throwies, the open source technology pioneered by the Grafitti Research Lab and popularized online and worldwide. This brings the number of SFT protestors detained in Beijing to 42. In the majority of these cases, the individuals were heard from and deported within 6-12 hours of their arrest, said Dorjee.

Students for a Free Tibet, a group with more than 700 chapters worldwide, has been staging protests in Beijing over the course of the past two weeks. According to Dorjee, who is also the group's technical advisor, GRL technology was an ideal fit for the spectacle of the Olympics, and called the GRL the "go-to group for open source urban expression".

Upon learning of the detention, fellow artist, collaborator, and current Eyebeam senior fellow Steve Lambert said, "He's an amazing, entertaining, brilliant, and committed person.  Not all of us have the courage to travel to China to make such a statement at a key time like this. He's a great friend and obviously, like so many others, I'm concerned about his well-being. I hope he's allowed to return home as soon as possible."
"Freedom of speech has always been central to James' practice, and we support this commitment. Most importantly, we hope for his quick release," said Eyebeam Executive Director Amanda McDonald Crowley.

For the latest information and images, please visit the website of Students for a Free Tibet and others listed below.

ANAT supports and encourages the safe and quick release of James and co-detainees.

Websites

http://www.fffff.at
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/19/beijing-activists-de.html
http://grl.anat.org.au/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081901287.html
http://freetibet2008.org/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_data/tags/ledthrowies/
http://graffitiresearchlab.com/