Eddie Colla, a participant in the recent Manifest Equality exhibition out in LA, just posted this videoto Vimeo. In it you will find shots of the show but more importantly, Eddie taking out a slew of illegal NPA ads in LA. I find this to be a wonderful example of proper use of public space. These messaging boards normally run the gamut of terrible corporate ad campaigns as evidenced by the poster for Repo Men, but their potential to be used to promote public concerns is exemplified in Eddie's recent activities. How incredible would it be if these spaces were typically used by the average citizen to express their concerns on pertinent social issues like gay marriage.
Everyone, I'm so sorry I have been slow on the site updates. Things are a bit crazy at PAC with lots of huge upcoming projects. Can't wait to clue everyone in. Until then I have been speaking to Alberto De Pedro in Madrid about outdoor advertising, street art, and finding a way to make a NYSAT project happen on Spanish soil. He is a fantastic artist and I highly suggest looking into his work.
The video below shows one of the actions of the TGLQV? project, which I'm told has had many artists' participation over the years. If I am correct this specific installations was done by NEKO.
We were just made aware of what sounds like a fantastic project run by Jerm IX and Vegas in Vancouver. It's a pretty simple idea, you send them artwork (standard formats) and a team of participants will put up your work in the Vancouver transit system. V-TARP, which stands for Vancouver Transit Ad Re-appropriation Project, "is intended to reclaim that highly sought after mindspace used by corporations to communicate with the public."
Participants are encouraged to send work in the next month to kick start the project with bang, but submissions will be taken indefinitely. I am told works should be 283mm high and any width from 200mm-800mm and should be submitted on 80lb. card stock. A photo document of your installed piece will be posted to a VTARP Flikr page, and once the project is rolling a blog page dedicated to the updates and progress will be rolled out. Any other questions you might have can be answered by a V-TARP participant at this email address. VanTARP@gmail.com.
We are always excited about a large scale work like this. We know it takes an immense coordinating effort and a good deal of risk taking for those carrying out the action. The upside is you can create a much bigger dialogue about who has the right to use public space in this way. While the actions of one person might be seen as that of a vigilante, the actions of many become a protest. because of this I think large scale projects like V-TARP encourage a conversation around the issue of commercial/public use of our shared environment. Questions about how using public space for commercial messaging might affect the public's use of that space become something to talk about, and that can only bring good as far as I am concerned.
We will definitely be sending work to Vancouver and suggest you do the same. They have told me they can handle a large number of submissions and that the project is open to everyone. If you do decide to send something, feel free to give us sneak peaks of your works and tell us when they have gone up in Vancouver.
It seems these days residents are taking back their walls in growing numbers. In the past few weeks we have seen NPA's illegal ads in LA targeted by Eddie Colla, and unidentified residents resulting in the removal of over 20 billboards for public communications. And then there was this pinwheel project by an unknown artist in New York not more than a week ago. And now this recent image comes to us from Unurth with no one to lay praise on. Has the world gone mad or has the public taken its responsibility more seriously? It would seem the latter as NPA's illegal signage is being targeted ferociously. Now if only we would see the city respond to these actions in the appropriate manner and begin the removal of all NPA ad frames, or even better, their conversion to public messaging boards!
A friend and reader in LA, Stefan Kloo, just sent us images of 15 NPA advertisements that were whited out by an unnamed party recently. The last image, which has a "free humanity" stencil sprayed onto the blank billboard makes me think this wasn't the city of LA cracking down, but a public protest of the illegal signage similar to the NYSAT project. If anyone has any info on this matter, please tell us what you know.
The first photo is taken by Luna Park of a Weave It! piece I installed a while back. She contacted me after seeing this recent installation of pinwheels, wondering if it was my work. It is not and I would love to know who is responsible for this wonderful piece.
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.
We saw Mr. Dimaggio's work a few weeks ago via streetsy. After checking his website we realized he had done more than a few ad takeovers and didn't look like he was planning on slowing down. We decided to contact him and see if this work was an intentional use of advertising space in an effort to cover the ads or merely a result of practicality. His response answers our question, and we look forward to seeing more ad takeovers happening soon.
"Milano is completely bombed with advs, this fact makes me sooo sick because the city is not big and there are billborads with gucci, prada and shit every 5 meters...people in milan is really influenced by advs trust me!!!!! I have started with the take overs last September because I think that is my little help to make Italian people think a lot more about what's happening around us right now!!!!"
Paysages de France is a national group of French activists that take to the streets monthly to protest illegal signage. It seems like a rowdy good time that I would love to see happen more often stateside. According to our friend in Montauban, they are approaching their 26th "cover up" day which will be filmed by a national public TV channel. Amazing!
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.
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.
Weave It! NPA City Outdoor/PublicAdCampaign Collaboration-Los Angeles
The most recent Weave It! piece was put up while I was on a trip in Los Angeles and was installed at the corner of Sunset and Parkman street. I installed it around midnight on Friday, February 12th, and sadly it seems this is right around the time NPA puts up their illegal posters. When I came back on Saturday morning the piece had already been removed. Ill be heading back to Los Angeles a bit in the next few months and will make sure I don't go out on Fridays this time around.
A Dutch news team followed me around last week while I installed this quick piece and another Weave It! NPA/PublicAdCampaign collaboration. I'll launch the video footage when they do and hopefully have a chance to install something out here in LA before I head back east.
Weave It! NPA City Outdoor/PublicAdCampaign Collaboration
The most recent Weave It! piece at Crosby and Grand has been removed. I installed it around 5pm on Wednesday in front of a Dutch news channel. The ad that was there before was for Alexander Wang, a young fashion designer whose look book I worked on a few years back when he was up and coming. I left the one image because I had gotten rid of the reference to advertising and liked the way she was swooning over the pattern.
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.
“Renegade Sign Bandits” Call Attention to Fuel Outdoor’s Illegal Billboards
Ban Billboard Blight reports that "renegade sign bandits" have hit the streets of LA plastering Fuel Outdoors' illegal signage with violation notices from the city of LA. It should be noted that New York is also a victim of Fuel Outdoor and it's illegal advertising signage. According to BBB, "A spokesperson for the L.A. Department of Building and Safety confirmed that the city had nothing to do the notices." Clearly this is a public reaction to LA's unwillingness to follow through with sign removal after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision not to hear Metrolights' appeal put the final nail in the coffin that is their legal battle to legitimize their illegal signage business. More [HERE]
1997 was 13 years ago which reminds me I've been working on PublicAdCampaign for 10 years, doing my first subway station takeover in December of 2000. Yikes! 2010 is setting up to be a great year for us and we look forward to working with everyone in the months to come.
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.
Im not sure if this is appropriate content for advertising takeovers but it sure as hell does get your attention. On top of this there is no mistaking that someone clearly hacked this billboard.
I was just emailed a tip that a second huge cross out campaign was done in Madrid, this time taking place over street furniture advertising locations. Upon further inquiry, the person who got in touch would only tell me that an "active group of urban artists from Madrid" had done this, and that they wanted to take no responsibility. At least that is the way it came off in translation. Check out the full set of images, and see the related first action which took place over billboards in June.
I put these two pieces up last night in an effort to continue working on the street as much as possible in 2010. As I mentioned two posts ago, I have been wanting to break the frame and begin collapsing the space between the advertisement and the outdoor environment. I hope to eventually be able to visually get rid of the advertisement as well as the frame that retains it. This piece begins to do that but practice on the street will make a big difference. Each of these takes about 15 minutes to install and I am not used to working at one spot for that long. I was hoping to continue the weave off the frame on the far side but not only was there a puddle to wade through but a parked NYC tow truck driver, staring me down with his headlights, made me very nervous. Ill do more of these and see if I can get them to work.
Washington between 13th and 14th street south side 01-20-10
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]
After 2 arrests on April 25th during the first NYSAT project, having the DOB officially deem this location illegal, watching as a half a million dollars in fines were issued by the ECB to both NPA and the landlord, this location has finally been removed 8 months later. Whether or not those violations will stick is a question we anxiously await as we follow NPA's conversion to Contest Promotions Inc. in NYC. Now lets see if we can get Keith Schwietzer to get an artist to refresh those rolldowns and give the East Village something it deserves.
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!
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
Eddie Colla, a participant in the recent Manifest Equality exhibition out in LA, just posted this video to Vimeo. In it you will find shots of the show but more importantly, Eddie taking out a slew of illegal NPA ads in LA. I find this to be a wonderful example of proper use of public space. These messaging boards normally run the gamut of terrible corporate ad campaigns as evidenced by the poster for Repo Men, but their potential to be used to promote public concerns is exemplified in Eddie's recent activities. How incredible would it be if these spaces were typically used by the average citizen to express their concerns on pertinent social issues like gay marriage.
