James Powderly, co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab, was detained in Beijing for plans to use the GRL L.A.S.E.R. Tagging System to project pro-Tibet messages on downtown buildings. Powderly’s colleague, Nathan Dorjee said, “He was going to project a message that said, `Free Tibet,’ and some other messages that would have been three-stories high in different locations in Beijing.” “Students for a Free Tibet said Powderly and some colleagues had been “disinvited” from a new media art exhibition in Beijing at the National Media Art Museum of China earlier this year due to their uncompromising stance on freedom of expression.” [AP]

Photo by urban data on Flickr.