OX continues to make the best site specific advertising takeover work that I am aware of. I cannot begin to tell you how happy it makes me. OX's Billboards Project in Cologne from OPEN WALLS Gallery on Vimeo.

Make No Mistake, Parzival Has My Attention

The always wonderful Luna Park just turned me on to Parzival's work, and I am surprised I haven't seen it before. Take a full look at his website to fully realize the lifelong insanity. I absolutely love it. More [HERE]

Strange Bedfellows - Art and Advertising in Dresden

The city of Dresden, along with Stroer outdoor advertising, is holding an open submission for artwork to be placed on 50 billboards around the city. It sounds like a good idea to bring more art to the streets and in the process eliminate a lot of advertising, if only briefly. The only problem is this initiative is promoted by an outdoor advertising company not in the business of making art happen, but rather money. Something must be amiss if they are offering free space. 

It seems that with the rise in popularity of street art and now this sub genre, developers and business interests are seeing a symbiotic relationship as opposed to an adversarial one. Instead of buffing graffiti and street art before plopping a bunch of condos down in an up and coming neighborhood, developers invite those same artists to "decorate" the area and give it the bohemian sheen they need to attract deep pocketed buyers. Once those condos are sold, the artists find that thier work is no longer needed and thier actions are again subject to the full extent of the law. Likewise with the anti advertising sub genre, billboard companies are inviting artists to use thier infrastructure in what I see as an effort to revitalize thier dying medium and bring new eyes to what most of us try to avoid like the plague. 

Like the old saying goes, "If you can't beat em, offer them professional exposure and watch as they abandon all of thier moral codes."

More [HERE]

A Recipe for Better Living

The always wonderful Luna Park sent me this little post on a small ad busting trend in Berlin. It seems the vandals are buffing fast food ads and replacing them with extremely simple, and yet infinitely more healthy food recipes. Fast food ads, through massive repetition,  normalize fast food consumption and in doing so alter our eating habits for the worse. These little reminders fight that trend and in the process allow us to imagine a world in which public images of food work in our favor instead of overwhelming us with unhealthy options that we eventually succumb to. 

Ich habe Ähnliches in den letzten Tagen öfter mal im Netz gesehen. Für irgendwas müssen die großen Werbeflächen der Fast Food Multis ja schließlich auch gut sein. Irgendwer also fährt da umher und schreibt ganz einfache Rezeptzutaten auf die Burger bewerbenden Plakate. Eigentlich muss man die dann nur zusammenhauen und fertig ist ein einfaches, aber durchaus ausgewogenes Essen. More [HERE]

A Space Called Public - Munich

Pay Nothing Until April, 2003 / 2013 Lenbachplatz, traffic island, 80333 Munich Installation until September 9 
The large-format billboard displays an impressive mountain-collage by Ed Ruscha: On the visually expressive panorama of a snow-covered mountain range, we read the inscription: "Pay nothing until April". Presented in the public space, the work with its combination of text and image is reminiscent of advertising posters in the city. By taking the stance of the neutral observer, Ed Ruscha is fond of using his lettered images to reflect the banality of metropolitan reality and the mass media. The motif for Munich is derived from an extensive series of paintings with which the artist does not wish to define any semantic fields or convey any logical messages. Instead, he provides space for inexplicable association and reflection in order to lend a poetic note to Munich – as well as some confusion.

More on the entire project [HERE]

Office of Freedom from Advertising and Good Living - Ad Free in 2014!

Luna Park turned me on to the "Office of Freedom from Advertising and Good Living", a Berlin based community organization attempting to make several neighborhoods ad free by 2014. I share many of their concerns and am excited to see such a hands on and practical approach to carving out even a small area of ad free space in our cities. What they are doing could provide us all with an example of how individual communities can truly alter their shared visual environment and in doing so help promote a more active and engaged citizenry. Sounds like a place I would like to live.

Take a look at their website [HERE] for more information on their activities and goals. And on a complete side note, is it strange to anyone else that their action took place on april 25th, the date of the first NYSAT and what I am beginning to think might be a great international takeover day. hmmm...

Vermibus Doing Amazing Work You Should Know About

Vermibus, a Berlin based ad takeover artist had a nice article on the Atlantic Cities website recently. His newest work, captured by photographer Just, is right there at Checkpoint Charlie, glaring back in all its bleakness. The process is great, and the results are quite beautiful. 

With this kind of placement I'm enjoying Vermibus as a relatively recent and strong addition to some amazing artists who happen to largely work over advertising. It's quite fantastic. Check out this process video below if you havent already seen it. 

Also see his No Ad project [HERE]

Weaving Frankfurt Ads Out of Existence

I've been traveling for the past week or two and went through Frankfurt to speak at the ICCG. (International Conference of Critical Geography) I was camping out in what I can only assume were the suburbs of Frankfurt and had some time to get a single piece up before I hopped on a train to Paris for another huge project ill be at liberty to talk about in a few months. Finding an art store was a bit of a task and all I ended up with was a multicolored pack of printer paper. As it looks now ill be putting up some more work in Paris while I am here. Until then enjoy.

International Conference of Critical Geography 6

I am honored to be talking on behalf of PublicAdCampaign and the Heavy Projects at the 6th International Conference of Critical Geography today, August 17th. I will be presenting a paper written by BC Biermann that I helped conceive, and which focuses on the use of Augmented Reality in the reappropriation of public space. While the discussion will focus on AR's ability to democratize media production in our shared environment, it will also touch on the history of PublicAdCampaign and the 10 years of physical alterations we have done.

Literally sitting outside on a wooden bench typing this, I am excited to explore Frankfurt and see if I can find a store that sells black and white paper. While there are few ads here, there are enough for me to get involved and physically reclaim some outdoor commercial media after discussing how to virtually do the same.

Read AR I AD Takeover: Augmented Reality and the Reappropriation of Public Space [Here]

Bayer's 'Media Facade' redefines building-vertising

Via Engadget

You may think that once you've seen one building turned into a massive billboard you've seem them all, but that would mean you probably haven't seen the so-called "Media Facade" now adorning Bayer's former HQ in Leverkusen, Germany. Built by ag4 media facade GmbH and GKD AG, the massive display apparently consists of 5.6 million LEDs that cover the entire 17,500 square meters of the building, and which can be lit up at will to pump out gigantic advertisements worthy of any science fiction movie. You'll note this is the former Bayer headquarters -- it seems that the promise of 'round the clock ads visible for miles around saved the building from the wrecking ball. Head on past the break for a video of it in action, and a second showing the facade being constructed.

Germany Knows Who Owns The Streets

Are we in the midst of some consumerist existential crisis? It seems like all over the world, artists and citizens are retaking the space once occupied by outdoor advertising and using it as a frame to project their own ideas onto the society in which they exist. Check this new project sent to me from Luna Park about a recent German ad takeover in Berlin. Thanks Luna!