Graffiti

In 2017, we heard how artist Katsu was using a modified DJI quadcopter to spray-paint graffiti on high surfaces. In a move that likely won't be welcomed by everyone, he's now developed a consumer graffiti drone, that's available to the public.

Earlier this year British electronic music group Massive Attack revealed it was storing its classic album Mezzanine in DNA. Now it's been announced the DNA will be available in a limited release of spray paint cans, with each spray can estimated to contain around 1 million copies of the album.

​SprayPrinter hit the scene in early 2016 with its innovative app-controlled device that can sit on the head of any can of spray paint. Now the company has taken things to a new level, developing a prototype that can climb up and down walls to create large-scale murals.

​Artists and vandals have been attaching spray-paint cans to drones with varying degrees of success for several years now but what if whole swarms of drones could be controlled in a coordinated way to paint colorful designs on the many bare construction facades that fill our cities?

New York-based drone graffiti artist KATSU recently launched a new iteration of his graffiti drone, the Icarus Two. To demonstrate its capabilities, KATSU showed the custom-modded DJI quadcopter articulating a political statement.

If you ever fancied yourself as a graffiti artist but lacked the artistic skill, the original SprayPrinter device provided a way to fake it. Users could choose an image to create and then let the handheld printer spray as required. Now, there's an updated version that lets you fake it better.

Graffiti looks cool, but requires a lot of practice to produce anything half decent. The SprayPrinter​, however, will let you create your own slick design at home using spray paint to create large artworks from images on a smartphone.

Australia's Sydney Trains has adopted a new approach to tackling vandalism, trialling new technology designed to quickly alert staff to offenders by sniffing out spray paint vapor. While only in its infancy, the project, which know as "Mousetrap," has already produced some promising results.

Augmented reality could be the next venue for graffiti and tag artists, as well as advertisers and media sites

YrWall allows users to digitally paint graffiti on a video wall, using infrared spray paint cans.

The Eyewriter project has developed a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow graffiti writers and artists with paralysis to draw using only their eyes.

Graffiti on historic landmarks is hard to remove because the basic caustic solutions used may damage the underlying surface. Now a new breathable coating gives hope to protecting some of our landmarks from taggers.