Subvertisers for London

Our good friends at Dog Section Press just released a short documentary on the radical subvertising that has been happening in London for the past few years. It is a fantastic look at some of the politics and actions of a unique group of activists trying to change the conversation on how we co-curate our shared public spaces. Give it a watch and let us know what you think. 

Watch Film [HERE]

BriCollab Presents: Contrasting Enterprises: Outdoor Advertising and Public Spaces

A screening of the documentary, This Space Available, followed by a discussion.

Common in an urban setting, outdoor advertising dominate public spaces. Municipalities generate revenue from advertising agencies erecting large, high production value, mainstream messages. In confronting the nature and prominence of this industry and cultivation of cityscapes, there are complex issues of economics, urban development, public space, aesthetics, and availability of resources within a community to express them.

This Space Available is a documentary that confronts these issues. Inspired by Rio de Janeiro municipal decision to strip all the billboards from one of Brazil's largest cities, director Gwenaëlle Gobé, investigated worldwide, looking how billboard industry impacts various cities. She connected with powerful members of the advertising industry as well as guerrilla street artist groups in order to grapple with the question, who is the public space for and who can express there? She catalogs the efforts and statistics of the advertising industry while showcasing the oppositional efforts that seek to reduce the amount of outdoor advertising in cities. The conversation at The New School with faculty Andy Berhiemer (Parsons The New School for Design), Victoria Marshall (Parsons The New School for Design), and Shoshanah Goldberg Miller (The New School for Public Engagement) discuss the contrast between commercial and public spaces with the idea that it is possible to traverse encounters between people as mediated through architecture, design, and municipal policies.

Sponsored by the BriCollab project in the School of Media Studies.

Electric Signs - The Documentary by Alice Arnold

A friend of mine, Alice Arnold, has launched a kickstarter campaign worthwhile supporting. Her documentary, Electric Signs, dives into our illuminated world and asks what affects these intermediary screens play in our lives to come. I've seen the rough cut and it is shaping up to be a fantastic resource. Pledge to her Kickstarter campaign [HERE] and help Alice finish off this film the way it deserves.

In her own words:

ELECTRIC SIGNS is a feature documentary that started several years ago in Hong Kong on a Fulbright Fellowship (Filmmaking), and has since expanded to include many more cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo and Prague. In all of these cities new screen based sign systems are putting TV-style advertising into the public domain. These electronic signs are re-shaping urban environments and re-defining areas of public space by intensifying the commercialization of the public sphere. In addition to the explosion of screens in public spaces, screens are ubiquitous in workspaces and in our daily life activities. These seamless, illuminated electronic surfaces are becoming the devices through which we frame our experiences. ELECTRIC SIGNS explores this new screen culture as it unfolds in the global city.

This Space Available - DOC NYC World Premier at the IFC Theater

PublicAdCampaign is proud to announce the world premier of the documentary film This Space Available. This full length feature focuses on the issue of visual pollution in our global community. Intent on creating a critical dialogue on the issue, the film investigates a wide range of perspectives including those of billboard executives, government agencies, and public space activists like myself. While the film will eventually be widely available, DOC NYC will be premiering the film on Saturday November 5th at 7pm at the IFC theater in New York City. There will also be a Q&A after the screening for viewers to question the film makers and a few of the subjects. We hope to see you there.

To purchase tickets for the This Space Available premier at the DOC NYC fest at the IFC theater on 11-05-11, please visit the DOC NYC website [HERE]. Remember there is limited space available so get your tickets now before they are all gone.

The grassroots movement against visual pollution

A documentary film directed by

Gwenaelle Gobe

Executive Producer: Marc Gobe/Emotional Branding

World Premiere at IFC Center/ New York

Saturday November 5th Time: 7:00 PM

Tuesday November 8th Time: 1:15 PM

____________________________________________________________

THIS SPACE AVAILABLE: Press Release

Billboards and commercial messages dominate the public space like never before. But is a movement taking shape to reverse this trend?

In This Space Available, filmmaker Gwenaëlle Gobé says yes. Influenced by the writing of her father, Marc Gobé (Emotional Branding), this new director brings energy and urgency to stories of people around the world fighting to reclaim their public spaces from visual pollution.

From 240 hours of film, 160 interviews and visits to 11 countries on five continents, This Space Available charts a fascinating variety of struggles against unchecked advertising and suggests that more than aesthetics is at stake. If Jacques Attali once called noise pollution an act of violence, is visual pollution also such an act? Should we also consider, as one Mumbai resident says, “which classes of society can write their messages on the city and which classes of society are marginalized?”

Gobé offers a canny generational analysis of visual pollution, laying blame not just with the advertising juggernaut but also an entire generation of Baby Boomers, whose consumption-based culture has implicated them in the environmental fallout. She argues that it’s her generation, left to do the cleaning up, that is now leading the fight back.

But the filmmaker also recognizes the history and politics behind this fight. Turning to such legislation as the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, Gobé shows how the enforcement of this landmark law, designed to regulate outdoor advertising on America’s roadways, has steadily eroded. And today, public space activist Jordan Seiler faces harsh penalties for covering illegal outdoor ads with art, while officials turn a blind eye to illegally erected billboards.

Still, the film strikes a hopeful tone. A standout interview features Gilberto Kassab, the popular mayor of Sao Paulo, who threw a stone into the quiet pond of the billboard industry by successfully banning outdoor media in his city – the eighth largest in the world. The move is not without precedent: Houston’s 1980 billboard ban was also a deliberate tactic to improve its flagging image, economic competitiveness, and quality of life.

In the end, This Space Available challenges audiences to recognize that aesthetics and beauty go hand in hand with responsibility. Gobé asks why brands continue to ally themselves with an industry that cuts down trees, hogs energy, and spends its profits in courts and statehouse lobbies, especially while younger consumers push for improved corporate citizenship? And is everyone equally to blame for enabling the spread of visual pollution, while other humble individuals show that it’s possible to reverse it?

The film navigates these issues without promoting a universal solution. Gobé instead weaves together stories reflecting diverse local responses to an increasingly global condition. This Space Available compels audiences to consider these stories long after the film ends, or at least to remember them each time we speed by a billboard.

Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle For Expression

Hello PublicAdCampaign readers. I rarely post anything which asks for donations to this site because it just makes me feel uncomfortable. That said, a while back I was interviewed for an upcoming documentary film called Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle For Expression. I am unsure if I made the final cut but I am sure that this will be an incredibly interesting film made simply by the persistent and unflinching efforts of the filmmakers. Read below for a description of the film and if you can, donate a few bucks. Understanding our relationship to our public environment and the democratic and shared nature of that space is an important part of developing a healthy city of the future. Investigations like these are unusual and yet incredibly important. Thank you to all those involved in the film for your hard work. [Trailer]

As you may have heard, I've been working on a feature documentary for the last two years. The film is an investigation into the phenomenon of "anti-graffiti vigilantes" and the wider cultural battle around graffiti and street art. It may sound a bit obscure, but we feel that it's a unique approach to a timely topic and a compelling exposé of some very eccentric characters. Ultimately, the film is about tolerance and free expression and creating conversations about how we all share the same public space. For more background on the film and a trailer, you can check us out online:

Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle for Expression

http://www.vigilantefilm.com

Or visit us on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vigilante-Vigilante/111244808068

Up to this point, the film has been entirely self-funded by myself and and my friend/producer Nate Wollman. We've got a very solid 85 minute cut that is getting great responses and starting to generate interest. Our aim is to finish completely in the next 3 months. But there are a few major expenses that we'll need to cover, including the final stages of editing, color grading, music rights, and a studio sound mix. All of this stuff can be very expensive and we're currently running a "crowdfunding" campaign on kickstarter.com with the goal of raising $8000 over the next four weeks. We're already up to $1340, but if we don't reach our goal by April 7, we won't get any of the funds!

Self-promotion and appealing for money do not come naturally to me, but I do feel that this is a worthy project that many people will enjoy and find to be both insightful and entertaining. If you could spare a few bucks or maybe more, every cent is appreciated. If we just got $10 from all of our friends and fans, we could probably reach our goal. Even if you can't donate, just passing on the link to some friends who might be interested would be a great help.

We have some excellent rewards for donating--everything from a DVD of the finished film for just $25 to an EXECUTIVE PRODUCER credit for $2000. Check out the rest of the goodies and a little video we put together on our Kickstarter page:

Vigilante Vigilante Kickstarter Campaign

http://kck.st/hIruWJ

One Not To Miss: TIm Jackson's Radical Jesters

VIA Wooster Collective

If you're interested in the subject of Culture Jamming, Tim Jackson's new film Radical Jesters is a must see.

You can watch the whole film online here.