Looks like one of the artists in the recently opened Manifest Equality exhibition decided NPA's illegal advertising needed better content. Arrested Motion was there to catch all of the action.
"As an added bonus, AM got the opportunity to accompany Manifest Hope/Equality artist Eddie Colla as he blanketed Hollywood with his Anti-Prop 8 propaganda. Check out the full pictorial recap of the show and the streets after the jump."
Oddly, I was not aware of Eddie Colla's work. They explain it like this...
"There is a visual conversation that takes place on the streets of urban environments. This conversation is dominated primarily by advertising and utilitarian signage and assumes passive participation. Whether invited or not I am going to participate in this conversation. Public spaces were never intended to be coated from top to bottom with photos of consumer products. These spaces should, in some manner, reflect the culture that thrives in that space.
Some people view what I do as vandalism. I assume that their objection is that I alter the landscape without permission. Advertising perpetually alters our environment without the permission of it’s inhabitants. The only difference is that advertisers pay for the privilege to do so and I don’t. So if you’re going to call me anything, it is more accurate to call me a thief."
I found this image on my way to the studio today. I'm not positive it is the work of an anonymous artist but the lack of copy and strange subject matter makes me think so. If anyone knows who did this, please get in touch.
Remember the racy video billboard hack in Moscow? Well it appears they have arrested the man responsible for the fantastic stunt. The Moscow Times is reporting that "The incident prompted the Moscow Advertising Committee to ban video billboards on the streets of Moscow." but I can't find any information to corroborate this statement. If anyone finds information that upholds this statement, please send it our way.
The Moscow Times Reports
Police in the southern city of Novorossiisk have arrested a man accused of hacking into a video billboard in Moscow last month and showing a pornographic movie that spawned a traffic jam as curious drivers slowed to watch the film. [More Here]
We were just sent this ad takeover from an anonymous artist in Amsterdam. It is always interesting to see how much of this kind of "illegal" activity is happening around the world and how people are thinking critically about their relationship to commercial messages. Along with these images came a small blurb from the artist which I thought was worth including in this post. The artist is clearly critical of his or her work and understands that beyond getting rid of outdoor advertising, they are demanding a space that is "pro freedom and expression of the people." Thanks again to all those artists taking the time to challenge outdoor advertising's use of the public environment. Keep up the good work and continue to send us your imagery.
Being a graffiti/street artist with an activist background, the stuff that I do in the streets is very varied. But always one of my projects has been hijacking the space in the small billboards behind glass, the so called 'abri's, owned by JCDecaux, at least if they contained posters of commercial companies that want us to buy more stuff. Sometimes I replaced the posters with my own message, sometimes I just alter the poster itself. I attached some images of where I used origami to take the original poster and transform it into something different. It needs a minimum amount of time and materials, and it is great fun. However after some times I left this idea, as it doesn't seem to really work. The image of the abri with an origamied poster in it is just not challenging enough, it doesn't really stand out. I also had trouble thinking in which origami shape I should fold it, eventually I just used a star, being a kind of neutral but recognisable shape. Of course the message is more in folding it than in the specific folded shape, but still every shape I would take would be a bit random. However, still I thought sharing these images with you would be worthwhile. At the moment I am thinking of new ways to change these posters. It is not on a big scale at all but I believe someone needs to do it every once in a while, against commercial ads and pro freedom and expression of the people.
Faith 47 is fast becoming one of my favorite artists world wide. Her incredible dedication to the street, and the people who her work comes in contact with, can be seen in every piece she does. Her use of public space is an inspiration to me and exemplifies what good can come when someone is allowed to create openly in our shared environments. From the intimate moments to the looming murals, her work is dead serious while being uplifting and filed with hope. She recently sent me some images that I would like to share with you in part because they are such wonderfully stark contrasts to the Supergraphics I saw in LA.
Faith 47 told us this mural is 12x18 meters and was create in Johannesburg.
This image is wonderful example of Faith 47's more intimate pieces.
In contrast to Faith 47's work I took all of these images from within a 100 yard vantage point outside of my hotel in West Hollywood LA. The almost carnivalesque nature these messages add to this environment is overwhelming and oppressive. I can only imagine what it might feel like if Faith 47 were allowed access to all these walls and what a different experience this space might be.
According to Unurth this morning, theHow Many Billboards Projecthas begun. Not all of the artworks have been put up but I expect more will follow shortly. We are super excited to see LA begin to consider the role of media in public space and its tendency to obliterate other forms of visual practices. I hope a project like this can spark the imagination of many and allow them to ponder alternative uses of our shared environment. VIA Unurth
Peter Fuss sent us his most recent ad takeover in Gdynia, Poland. Always excited to see more ad takeovers happening around the world, we are happy to see Peter Fuss continuing to take back the streets.
We have known about this book for sometime and have been very excited to see a serious collection of Poster Boy's work in one place. We are especially excited to see all the work that was done while his court case was open and he was unable to post to his Flikr page. The book is available for pre-order and will ship out on March 10th.
"His cut and slash mash-ups of subway platform billboards only exist in New York City, but Poster Boy’s artful and funny appropriations of advertising have gotten him attention the world over. The New York Times dubbed him an “anti-consumerist Zorro with a razor blade, a sense of humor and a talent for collage”; the Guardian UK said of his work, it “is witty, web-savvy and economical . . . and the only materials it requires are chutzpah, imagination and a 50 cent blade.
Poster Boy tweaks corporate copy, replacing it with incisive and playful puns and turns of phrase rich with innuendo and political punch. Beautiful models turn ghastly and iconic spokespeople become the mouthpieces for Poster Boy’s ideas. Poster Boy: The War of Art collects his best work yet."
Our sources in Rome tell us they are pretty positive this piece by Mr. Dimaggio, was put up over a framed advertising location in Milan. The source tells us that normally similar locations to this are used for political campaign posters in Italy. If the spaces are anything like the Affichage Libre in France, they are often co-opted by mainstream commercial ads for private use. In France the Debunkers Collective battles this type of illegal commercial usage monthly.
Sleeping With The Enemy, Well Not Really Sleeping...
Michael Gitter, CEO of Mediacy Inc, the company about to be responsible for 500 street level Gatescapes in New York City, just sent me this image because he "Thought you might find it interesting." Apparently he saw it at Bleeker street while riding the subway. Now me and Michael have had endless arguments about his proposed Gatescape business and I still feel it will be another abusive use of our public space but the guy is growing on me. Don't worry I won't let it cloud my judgment when dealing with his company, after all he is still a sleazy ad pusher as far as we are concerned, but it is interesting to see him "supporting" us in some way. Think what you may about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, but I don't think that is the case here. You are a funny cat Michael. Thank you for the image.
It doesn't seem like people know when Deuce Seven created this advertising takeover in San Francisco but I could really care less. It's amazing, and his use of the frame is absolutely incredible. It appears this was all done on site which is even more fantastic. We know how dodgy it can be spending anymore time than necessary at an ad takeover location whether it's illegal or not, and for this reason we are blown away by this piece. One can only assume Deuce is a fast painter and a world class sprinter.
As per usual my Monday started with a computer malfunction so this post is gonna be light. As mentioned on the NYSAT microsite Why Donate page, we are starting a very small granting program called Under One Hundred. We will be putting out an official call for submissions, which we will take on an ongoing basis, in the next few weeks. The above project done by Geoff Hargadon in Boston is a wonderful example of something we would consider for Under One Hundred. As of yet Geoff has only installed this ad takeover in Boston and here at PublicAdCampaign we would love to see it come to New York. Look for the first Under One Hundred from I AM and PosterChild in late February.
Philip Lumbang Commision To Be Removed By Los Angeles City
If you follow LA advertising issues, and you should if you enjoy this site, you know how insanely difficult it is to have illegal signage removed even after the city has deemed the advertisement in violation. As it turns out, getting art murals removed is a hell of a lot easier. Artist Philip Lumbang, a recent NYSAT participant, was commissioned to do this mural in a residential area of LA. According to him it is being slated for removal after a single resident complained about it. Now I'm sorry, but something is very very wrong when it takes the city less than a week to remove artwork and over a year to remove huge illegal supergraphics. It makes you want to go out and do what the city can't do for itself, tear these eyesores down with your bare hands. This is all on top of the fact that this mural is actually blocks from a preschool that you can be sure enjoys this neighborhood addition on a daily basis. God help us all when our public space becomes a venue for the sale of commercial items and cannot serve the actual people who live and breath in our cities. Asked to fill us in, the Philip explains the situation like this...
I'm a lil fuzzy on it myself but, I painted that in a residential neighborhood as a commission. And for the last year it has been riding high, but for some reason one of the neighbors decided to call the city about it to complain. And I guess the deal is you can't have a mural on private residential property or some bs like that. I guess it's on the same guide lines as shop keepers maintaining a clean facade with no graffiti. But it's pretty stupid because from what I understand is that pretty much everyone loves that mural except for that one person that called it in and to top it off it is right next door to a preschool. So no the kids are missing out. Oh and get this to even try a petition to keep the wall you have to pay like $1500 or some obscene amount so the city could even consider not taking it down.
It's Official, The New York Street Advertising Takeover Microsite Is Up
Monday morning at approximately 11:00am the final 3 arrested NYSAT participants had their cases dismissed because the NPA employees who called the police on them failed to sign the deposition in order move forward with the case. This is the same thing that happened with all 9 of the arrests associated with the two NYSAT projects and is an indication that NPA is not interested in a legal battle because they know what they are doing is illegal and would rather sweep controversy under the rug. Now that our participants are safe, our lawyers have told us we can finally launch the official NYSAT website.
On this website you will find an immense amount of information regarding the projects including, project documentation, maps, video, press, information on NPA, information on how to identify and report illegal signage, and a description of how you too can create a public intervention of your own.
We would like to thank everyone involved in this project whose participation made it possible to create such a large scale public intervention that not only benefited the participants but the city at large. We have been continually impressed with the level of commitment NYC residents have to their city and their shared public spaces. It is truly an indication of how much people care about the city they live in and the spaces which knit all those private residences, and ourselves together.
Please note that gathering all the information for this site has been a challenge and we admit there might be some things we overlooked in the process. If you were a participant and you have not been credited, would like to remain anonymous, have imagery you would like included or generally have changes, please contact us and we will alter the site immediately. We cannot thank everyone enough for their dedication to this cause and New York City in general.
I apologize profusely for not posting more this year but I have been working hard on some things to come and they are taking a huge portion of my time these days. I will continue to post more regularly, I promise.
Miss Bugs isn't known for doing ad takeovers but I do love this piece. I have been toying with how to start collapsing the space between the advertisement and the environment lately and this is a fantastic example of just that. For more of Miss Bugs' work go [HERE]
NPA Has No Respect For Chico, Pete, Or You For That Matter
I was looking through some old images of NPA's illegal street level billboards in NYC and realized I hadn't noticed their complete lack of respect for New York's public mural works. Like the Conor Harrington mural that they so callously covered and Dick Chicken and I then liberated, NPA seems to seek out Chico and Pete's work in order to cover it. These artists are not only NYC legends, but true community members and invested urban citizens, painting messages of hope and inclusion on the streets for all of us to enjoy.
Houston Street Between A+B North 6th Street & Avenue C SWC Norfolk & Delancey NEC
Brown Student Gets Up In New York City Phone Booths
Ariel Hudes, a Brown University student, contacted PublicAdCampaign about a month ago with a request. In her first email she wrote..
I'm taking a class at Brown called Radical Media ( http://tiny.cc/QYZ5F). I came across you and the Public Ad Campaign in that Times article a few weeks and have been a daily blog-reader since. I'm totally enthralled. I love what you're doing. And here comes the request...
For our first assignment "create and distribute a radical poster" I made this: https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/mcm1700p/-mission And for our final assignment "a final project that goes beyond the Brown campus"... my dream is to get it blown up... and go to ny and put it in a phone booth.
Obviously we helped her out. She came down on the 13th and off we went with two posters in hand. I put up the first one just so she could see it happen, and then it was her turn. After her first phone booth install she had a grin from ear to ear and a sense of accomplishment that was palpable. Here at PublicAdCampaign we always enjoy facilitating peoples interaction with their public environment. We are also continually impressed with how empowered it makes people feel and how it changes their entire relationship to the streets around them. Congrats Ariel!
Bablegum has chosen the winners of its metropolis arts prize for video in 2009. The winners, as well as runners up, will have their videos screened on the Jumbotrons in Times Square NYC. The categories include a street art video award for which Jason Eppink's Pixelator video was a runner up. If you do not know the Pixelator project, take a look at it here. It is an incredible street art advertising intervention. The irony of this advertising takeover being screened on one of the world largest digital billboards is too much to bear. Please come out on December 17th from 7pm-8pm to watch public content get its rightful place in this great outdoor advertising mecca, and support Jason in his efforts. On another note, Improve Anywhere won the Audience Award with their Subway Yearbook Photo Project. You gotta love Charlie and his antics, they never stop and they always inspire.
A beautiful Billboard By Jennifer Marman & Daniel Borins
Working as fine artists often in a typical gallery context, here Jennifer Marman & Daniel Borins present a more pleasing and contemplative use of the modern billboard format.
Someone sent me these three Brick of Gold pieces that recently hit the street in NYC. From what I understand they were up for a mere 2hr, just enough time to get some photos. There is something about the "I don't care about no phonebooth" piece that I really like. I think it's that I imagine many people would have a hard time believing it is advertising and therefore was probably successful at making the viewer question advertising's place in our public spaces. You can see more installs at The Brick of Gold website HERE.
A while back we were sent an image of a phone kiosk takeover done by an unknown artist. We posted it in hopes of finding out who was responsible for the fantastic work. Sure enough a few months later Najung Kim contacted us claiming responsibility. I love the fact that she uses her real name and that the image was part of a series done for James Victore's Urban Studio class at SVA. Visit Najung's site for more ad takeover images.
PosterChild is wrapping up an extended stay in New York and he is busier than ever bringing us creative content. PosterChild is a good friend and I love his work so I say this with the utmost respect, revealing the process often helps grab peoples attention but the tape used to hold these images to the advertisements bothers me.
The 2009 Summer Arts Institute Filmmaking Workshop
This video was shot and edited by four incredibly talented high school students working in conjunction with the Tribeca Film Institute this past summer. I was excited to see PublicAdCampaign paired with two other direct action projects run by, Real Life Superhero Life, and Deborah Fisher of the Bed Stuy Meadow Project. All of these projects are ultimately about creating positive dialogue in our city about issues facing our public health, through alternative methods that better the environment and the people who live in this city. Thanks again to everyone involved and to Deborah and Life for being two inspirational public individuals.
Make it Happen
By Caroline Handel, Rayhan Islam, Milo Finnegan-Money, Rhakwaun “Rocko” Seymour
Three people in New York City, disillusioned by their political situations, have taken matters into their own hands. Make It Happen profiles each of these non-traditional activists as they tackle issues in their local communities through unusual forms of protest and with innovative ideas to make change.
This is an image OX sent me from France. It's of him and friends being arrested for posting their artwork in Central Park in January of 1985. Who even wheat pasted in 1985? Awesome!
Photo by Masto
Before I had a chance to post on the arrest photo above, OX sent me this image of him and Closky from around the same time period. This gives you a better idea of what kind of wheat paste imagery they were putting up. Check the jackets, also by Closky.
This NYC phonebooth takeover was found by Wooster Collective readers. It's always a pleasure to see people out on the streets making fantastic work. Considering a good portion of phonebooths in NY don't have working phones and are really just advertising frames, it is about time someone put them to use for something better.
Thom Flynn-Doing God's Work In Washington DC Since '99
Photo by Allison Shelley
I came across your website and I'm impressed with your campaign. I've been on a similar mission in Washington DC since '99. I'm reclaiming the wheatpasted walls by peeling away and/or prying off the posters. It's not an easy process, sometimes necessitating a crowbar, but I've always embraced the questionable legality. People ask what I'm doing (including the cops), but after saying it's a community service they normally leave me alone... others just assume I work for the billboard company. The posters are recycled into my art, taking the form of large abstract "paintings". Attached are a couple images just to give you an idea of what I'm up to. Perhaps we could collaborate in the future? In the meantime, keep up the good work!
Vihls Makes Contact With PublicAdCampaign And We Love His Work
Artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vihls, just contacted us from London to talk about the last NYSAT project. He included a piece we hadn't seen before and just had to post it.
This newest piece from Princess Hijab was recently photographed by Christophe Meiries in Paris. The image shows a level of detail and sophistication I haven't seen in the Princess's work thus far. I like it a lot and I hope to see more soon.
As I have no contact with the artist, I may make assumptions here that aren't true. Please forgive me. As I understand it, this project isn't ultimately about the companies behind the advertisements, so much as it is about the proliferation of a cultural minority in media more generally. Despite this I still wish the logos were removed along with the "hijabizing," as the artist calls it. Without the company logo, the image refers only to the artist, whereas with the logo the image is somehow still a bastardized ad for Arena, but an ad nonetheless. I understand the artist might want the viewer to associate the new media content with the company, but that's just my thought on the matter.
French Artist OX Answers A Few Of PublicAdCampaign's Questions
Every once in a while we come across an artist whose work seems to be very in line with our own over here at PublicAdCampaign. We like to ask them a few questions about their intentions and motivations. French artist OX took the time to answer our request and the results are given below.
Why do you create work in the public?
I do not create my works in public, however I do install them in public places. First, I select locations by closely examining a specific area, then I do the painting in my studio, and only then is it installed outside in public view. I see my work as “installation” rather than “performance”. It is a very free way of envisaging artistic production.
Why do you create work over/using outdoor advertising?
I have always thought that billboards, because they are similar to huge paintings hung in the landscape, provide an extraordinary support on which to show my paintings. At the beginning, I used them only as a means for bringing my work to the public eye and to publicize it in a quick and effective way, but without giving the surrounding context any particular attention. Currently, my art is the same but I now take the site into account, up to the point even where it often dictates my graphic choices and I sometimes leave pieces of the advertising image visible.
Tell us something about where you live and your relationship to your city.
I live in Bagnolet, a suburb less than 1 km outside Paris, where I have pasted more than 130 posters on free-expression-panels (designed for non-commercial posters) over a period of 4 years. I imagine the town as a recreation ground, which I view as a three-dimensional composition in which I place disturbing visual elements, whose presence will become a sort of photographic still life.
How would you describe your relationship with advertising?
Advertising is omnipresent in our lives, it feeds our consumer addiction, it exploits and recycles artistic creation and it finances it. It forms a part of my imagination, I draw on its imagery to create and I use its means to communicate. Although I sometimes divert it’s meaning, I do not have the pretension of fighting it.
Having done both, is there a difference between working in France and New York?
Yes, there is a difference. I think it is less risky to practice this art in France. With the Ripoulins in New York in 1985, there were no billboards available for my work, so I pasted my paintings directly on worksite boardings or private walls and even on a roof at Central Park, which caused problems with the owners and the police, and we were even taken to court. I no longer work in this manner.
Tell us one of your favorite moments working on the street.
Without a doubt, the very first time I pasted my work on a billboard! More recently, a favorite moment was one very cold winter morning when I had to mix antifreeze with my paste and then climb onto my slippery car roof to carry out my art billposting, even though I was alone it was a moment of jubilation. And of course, there are many other memorable times.
If you could run a fantasy camp, what would it be?
At first, when I read this question, I imagined Fantasy Camp to mean a sort of combination between Spring Break and a Hippy group, where you do body painting in the setting sun . . . . then I thought of two projects I worked on, one in which I took part called “Holidays and Painting”, and another project which has never been carried out : “Festival of Color”.
My idea would be to propose a range of actions to enable people to celebrate their favorite colors.
After his continuous line portrait on a building in Queens, Sam3 is back in Spain, hitting billboards. Noting that “in the autumn the leaves fall,” the street artist enlisted one of his silhouetted figures to trash some old ads in the city of Murcia. |Sam3|
Eduardo Moises Penalver & Sonia Kaytal Property Outlaws: How Squatters, Pirates, and Protesters Improve the Law of Ownership Barbara Ehrenreich Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy Lewis Hyde The Gift, Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World Geoffrey Miller Spent: Sex, Evolution, & Consumer Behavior Sharon Zukin The Cultures of Cities Miriam Greenberg Branding New York Naomi Klein No Logo Kalle Lasn Culture Jam Stuart Ewen Captains of Consciousness Stuart Ewen All Consuming Images Stuart & Elizabeth Ewen Channels of Desire Jeff Ferrell Crimes of Style Jeff Ferrell Tearing Down the Streets John Berger Ways of Seeing Joe Austin Taking the Train Rosalyn Deutsche Evictions art + spatial politics Jane Jacobs Death+Life of American Cities
Looks like one of the artists in the recently opened Manifest Equality exhibition decided NPA's illegal advertising needed better content. Arrested Motion was there to catch all of the action.
Looks like one of the artists in the recently opened Manifest Equality exhibition decided NPA's illegal advertising needed better content. Arrested Motion was there to catch all of the action.
