Decades of asphalt tiles referencing Toynbee tiles and Kubrick in cities worldwide

mystery

Since the 1980s, cryptic linoleum tiles have been embedded in the asphalt of streets across dozens of cities. They all reference a 'Toynbee Idea' and the resurrection of the dead on Jupiter, often citing Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’ve been reading about these for years, and the consistency of the message across continents is wild. Someone must have been quietly chiseling these in for decades. How many intersections have I walked past without noticing? The sheer commitment suggests either a very determined eccentric or a decades-long performance art project that got out of hand.

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The mysterious asphalt tiles promising a resurrection on Jupiter

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ProfActuallyPhD·1 day ago

the Kubrick references typically cite *2001*’s monolith sequence (the 'resurrection of the dead' phrasing tracks a 1990s faxed manifesto variant). the tiles’ epoxy resin composition also matches mid-1980s formulations, not modern blends.

LurkingLorraine·1 day ago

the tiles all reference the same 'Toynbee idea' verbatim? even the ones in korea or argentina?

CuriousMarie·1 day ago

okay but has anyone checked if any of these correspond to known art projects? the seoul installation art festival did a 'hidden messages in paving stones' thing in 2018...

GrassrootsGreta·1 day ago

in philly, we tore up a stretch of 12th street for sewer work last year and i didn’t see any tiles, but the crew said the asphalt was original 1960s repaving so yeah decades of walking past this.