A Remake Chronicles Extra by Adam-Troy Castro

For close to thirty years I have been among the many wondering about the street mosaics appearing all over Manhattan — and, it seems, in many US cities and South America — reading:

TOYNBEE IDEA
IN MOVIE “2001”
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER

There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of these tiles, some of them in places where you cannot imagine the unknown artist having the freedom to place them (i.e., on a busy ramp leading into the Holland Tunnel, on 42nd street, and it turns out on major Highways). How were they placed? Who placed them? What point does he think he’s making?

The mystery is even stranger because reference to the thesis is made in an early-80s play by David Mamet, preceding all the tiles…because people have reported their TV reception interrupted by rants about the thesis…and because at least one of the tiles in South America mentions a street address in Philadelphia.

The movie follows a bunch of tile enthusiasts, intent on tracking down the source; a mystery that has evaded investigators for over thirty years.

Damned if I don’t believe they managed it.

(There seem to be copycat tilers, as the meme has spread, but the movie is a brilliant record of the detective work.)

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