From Luther's Ninety-five Theses to the present, the printed poster has a rich history as a communicative, aesthetic, and political form. I was struck by how, in the aftermath of 9/11, many New Yorkers used photocopied fliers to convey their grief to one another. Again at the onset of war in Iraq, posters were instrumental in mobilizing massive rallies that were virtually unmentioned on corporate news networks.

In response to a social condition in which public influence practically demands marketing, this project aims to channel energy into thoughtful forms of public dialog. In light of the increasing accessibility of computers and color printers, it anticipates a wave of colorful, independent, and low-budget posters in public places that are now dominated by professionally produced commercial messages.

Imprimatur is a free, easy-to-use tool for producing posters. Written in the Java language, it generates documents in the PDF (portable document format), suitable for all printers.

While the option exists to use the software privately, like a conventional graphics tool, the essence of this artwork lies in a tendency toward communicative, simultaneous interaction. Users contribute to a shared poster layout -- a graphical form of dialog. At times people compete for space, offering different messages. This provides a context for role playing, too. People can adopt argumentative postures and try out provocative messages without fear of physical reprisal. As in previous groupware artworks like Glyphiti and Open Studio, the combination of anonymity and communication fosters an experimental dynamic that encompasses both the message and the message-maker. Creativity becomes a shared process, as unpredictable as the people who are passing through, working and playing. The articulation of this experimental context with the easily obtainable hard copy is a vital link between theoretical and practical reasoning, a provocative bridge between the private personae and desires that people express on-line and the actions they take in public.

Regarding the graphical content of the posters, Imprimatur does not advance any particular political agenda. The content is provided by visitors to the site. Because Imprimatur includes a chronological archive of all the posters, the on-line visitors leave their handiwork for others to see and use. Ultimately, this archive of signs reflects the thoughts, aspirations, fixations, and concerns of the public.

Imprimatur may confound conventional expectations about art. The artist, rather than providing images, provides a system intended to activate the viewer's thought and expressiveness. While this may not be new for veterans of net.art, the rise of designer-friendly Flash movies has pushed on-line experience toward spectatorship. Against the backdrop of a mass media culture that promotes conformity and passivity, the importance of Imprimatur is clear. Imprimatur encourages "viewers" to choose themes and produce their own messages. Yet while it awakens resistance to the domination of public space by homogeneous corporate advertising, Imprimatur remains fun to use. It propels on-line expression out of the ink jet and into the streets.