Three tech \u201cpranksters\u201d are holding a contest \u2014 deadline April 7 \u2014 for a public art project that will transform a barren alley in SF\u2019s Sunset District into a 1,280-piece art quilt. The friends recently purchased the alley from a couple who mistakenly thought they were buying a nearby duplex.<\/p>\n
Last fall, when news broke that a local couple bought what later became dubbed a \u201cdirt alley\u201d<\/a> in San Francisco\u2019s Sunset District for $25,000 at a city foreclosure auction \u2014 mistakenly thinking it was the duplex next door, a group of tech engineers decided to take it off their hands for $26,000 and turn it into a public art project, as first reported by the SF Standard<\/a>. <\/p>\n The group of friends who purchased the alley \u2014 Patrick Hultquist, Theo Bleier, and Riley Walz, launched a website Wednesday inviting artists and community members to submit entries to their \u201cPaint a Street<\/a>\u201d contest. The deadline is Tuesday, April 7 at noon, and they’ll be choosing 1,280 “winners,” as the Chronicle reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Walz told KPIX<\/a> that the group met during board-game night, and they also reportedly created last year\u2019s Pursuit<\/a> scavenger hunt. Walz is also the mastermind behind a suite of apps that have gotten him labeled a tech \u201cprankster,\u201d including the infamous Find My Parking Cops<\/a>, which was swiftly shut down by the SFMTA within a day, as SFist reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The friends had also reportedly tried to purchase an alley in Noe Valley two years ago through a city foreclosure auction, but it was slightly out of their price range at $33,000.<\/p>\n The artwork will consist of a 1,280-panel quilt, and while the organizers haven\u2019t decided which medium will be used for the artwork, they\u2019re reportedly thinking they\u2019ll use decals of some sort on the pavement. Per the Chronicle, they aim for the collaborative quilt to become a destination site like Clarion Alley in the Mission.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not so different than a home movie or something like that, except it involves a large part of the city,\u201d Hultquist said.<\/p>\n As KPIX points out, Patrick and his friends are helping a neighbor out of a bad real estate deal while creating a neighborhood landmark for the rest of the city to enjoy.<\/p>\n Related: Local App-Maker Makes Viral App to Track SF Parking Cops<\/a><\/p>\n