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Ephemeral -- spreading the word!
Lisa Sedano has launched Ephemeral, a mobil app for crowd sourced data collection on advertising and art in LA. One of the main hurdles to public space reform is a lack of understanding about what types of images are priviledged in public space, our personal stake and ownership in our shared environment, and general lack of political participation. Ephemeral seems to engage all three of these issues in an effort to create a public with a more nuanced understanding of the shared environment around them. It's an exciting project and if you are so inclined, donate a few bucks to help make it a reality. [ HERE]
Dear friends,
I am excited to announce Ephemeral, a mobile app will let people share pictures of street art and outdoor advertising, creating a collective map and visual archive of the urban landscape. Ephemeral asks community residents to open their eyes to how much outdoor advertising surrounds us and to notice the art that is fighting for space and bringing unique and unexpected moments of creativity to urban life.
Ephemeral builds off my graduate work in geography, for which I designed a website that let people map billboards in Los Angeles. At the time, the city had an inventory of billboards, but was refusing to release it publicly under political pressure from advertisers. I created a crowdsourced webmap of billboards, believing that the community could create what money and politics had stopped the city from doing (and I sued the city to release the inventory!).
For many people, billboards are just “what a city looks like.” Street artists offer a counter-narrative to the corporatized city, directly engaging with consumer society in their work. Artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey have brought attention to street art – to the power of provocative, surprising, creative expression in public space. The aim of Ephemeral is to preserve all types of transitory art in the public realm, from wheatpaste posters, to murals, to hijacked billboards, to hand-knit cozies on objects of infrastructure, as well as the advertising that we take for granted.
Ephemeral will be free to download and use, to truly harness the power of the community, but right now, it needs your help to come to fruition! I would be so grateful if you could visit the Kickstarter page at http://kck.st/2oC6F56, offer any support you can (there’s a slew of neat rewards to collect, starting at donations of $1), and share the project with your friends.
Any support you can offer is incredibly important and sincerely appreciated.
And please let me know what you think! I would love to hear from you.
Best,
Lisa
@ephemeral_app
Labels: billboards, digital, LA
Tom Wiscombe redesigns the L.A. billboard (and is chosen over Zaha Hadid's proposal)
Although Los Angeles has had its battles over supergraphics—those painted on advertisements that often stretch multiple stories on a building's facade—the billboard as a concept has received substantially less attention, unless the provocative imagery on it causes fender benders. However, Tom Wiscombe's proposal for digital, vertically aligned, two-sided billboards that allow people to walk inside of them injects new life into an otherwise sleepy structure, making them less car-centric and more about public space. More [ HERE] Labels: billboards, digital advertising, LA, supergraphics
Lena Dunham Calls for Altering of Gun-Toting 'Jason Bourne' Subway Ads
Looks like someone out there shares my thoughts on gun advertising and our public interest. In part this idea came from a series of images that Jon Burgerman did using advertising violence and a little photoshop to make some wonderfully fun critical commentary. See them all [ HERE]
VIA: The Hollywood Reporter
In light of the recent shooting tragedies that have occurred in the U.S., Lena Dunham is in full support of ripping gun images out of the new Jason Bourne subway ads.
After producer Tami Sagher proposed removing images of the gun that Matt Damon’s titular character is seen holding in the film’s ads, the creator and star of HBO's Girls reposted Sagher’s message. In full support of bringing awareness to gun control, Dunham captioned the photo: “Good idea @tulipbone! Let's go!” More [ HERE] Labels: LA, news articles, Other Artists
Ad Space Takeover in Front of Exhibition
Kristin Calabrese hijacked this bus shelter in front of her exhibit to talk about the importance of a space to talk about whatever we like. I love it and the boldness of dropping ti right in front of her show. more of her work [ HERE]
MY BUS SHELTER IN FRONT OF LA>< ART
7000 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
90038
www.laxart.orgLabels: ad takeovers, Bus Shelters, LA, Other Artists
Clear Channel’s L.A. Billboards: Ignoring Outdoor Advertising Industry Code of Principles
I am often criticized for addressing my concerns through improper methods and told I should operate within the law if I take such a strong issue with OOH advertising. I understand the concern but the industry I am up against has never played by the rules so why should I?
Several months ago, we pointed out the fact that a Clear Channel billboard on Lincoln Blvd. in Venice violated an outdoor advertising industry code regarding the proximity of alcohol ads to schools and places of worship. That ad for New Amsterdam vodka was recently removed, but what’s displayed now on that 52 ft. high, 624 sq. ft. sign? An ad for Camarena tequila. More [ HERE] Labels: Ban Billboard Blight, billboards, illegal advertising, LA
ICY & SOT In Los Angeles
Icy and Sot were just out in LA and had a chance to put thier PublicAccess keys to good use. I love the fact that these two make it a point to do a few ad takeovers in whatever city they end up in, regardless of why they are in town. This is the kind of autonomous action I was hoping to make possible with the PublicAccess project and I hope to see more activity like it in the future.
Labels: LA, lollipops, Other Artists, public access, street art
Funny Math? Clear Channel’s $3.9 Million Donation to the LAPD
Dennis over at Ban Billboard Blight is a solid crusader who sees through the bullshit and tells it like it is regarding all things advertising and public space in LA. Follow his insights for the incredibly specific and yet oddly universal tactics that the billboard industry is using to edge its way further into the LA city fabric.
The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote this Wednesday on accepting Clear Channel’s donation of space on 12 billboards for LAPD public safety messages. That space for ads running for five weeks is worth a total of $3,978,630, says Clear Channel, which has been heavily lobbying city councilmembers to allow more digital billboards on city streets and to grant amnesty to hundreds of billboards that don’t have permits or have been altered in violation of their permits. More [ HERE] Labels: Ban Billboard Blight, billboards, Clear Channel, illegal advertising, LA
New Work for Two Upcoming Group Shows
A few years ago I was photographed by Søren Solkær in Norway for the Surface project. He set out to document the street art and graffiti artists that have helped make the genre such an important part of the art world, and came away with hundreds of portraits of some of its most influential characters. I was proud to be one of them, and even more proud to be showing with a select few at two upcoming exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles.
The first is exhibition opens tonight at Subliminal Projects, 1331 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles. For this exhibition, Søren asked the participating artists to integrate the original portrait he took of us into a new piece for the show. I chose to break Søren's image into two so that I could install each piece separately in a phonebooth. Once installed, each phonebooth was photographed to produce the framed diptych above.
The second exhibition opens on May 2nd at the Allouche Gallery, 115 Spring street, NYC. For this show, the gallery wanted each participating artist to work in a 3'x3' format. Because my gallery work usually happens in stolen ad frames, 3'x3' doesn't make a lot of sense to me and so I chose to take the opportunity to do a material study built around one of my favorite objects these days, the JCDHEX Public Access key.
Labels: Exhibitions, gallery exhibitions, LA, New York, PublicAdCampaign
More Billboards Coming To Los Angeles? Judge Rules City’s Off-Site Sign Ban Unconstitutional
Just when I was beginning to like Los Angeles.....Ugh
Los Angeles has been trying to shed its label as the country’s billboard capital, but Clear Channel and other companies pushing to put up new digital billboards got a major boost this week when a Superior Court judge ruled that the city’s ban on new off-site signs violates the free speech guarantee of the California state constitution. More [ HERE] Labels: Ban Billboard Blight, billboards, LA, legal
PUBLIC ACCESS - key archive and tool production
PublicAccess - Perth, Western Australia
A few years ago I was in Norway for NuArt. The festival brought me to Stavanger to cause a scene in downtown by removing every bus shelter advertisement and replacing it with artwork illegally. For a state sponsored arts festival that puts a huge part of its budgets behind large scale mural productions in a small oil rich town, I was happily surprised by my invitation and how progressive they showed themselves to be with that choice. There was one problem, I had no idea how to break into the ad infrastructure in Norway. Luckily for me volunteers were able to send me photos, take measurements, and generally help me figure out what I needed to make before I got on a plane.
I left for Norway equipped with a new tool I assumed would give me access to every shelter I would need access to, in order to blanket downtown. Upon arrival in Stavanger it became immediately clear that what we thought was the key, was in fact an aberration. I now know that many cities have several different keys that open infrastructure installed at different times. New models of bus shelters can have wildly different opening methods and Stavanger was no different. The more ubiquitous tool, and the one that would allow me to blanket downtown, was not in my possession and I had to figure it out fast.
After gathering some random hardware supplies, I was able to hand craft a tool that provided me access to the rest of Stavanger's infrastructure. I became excited by my resourcefulness and ease with which these keys could be made, even on the fly. Traveling over the next few months, I began to notice that this new key I had crafted in Stavanger was in fact quite universal, giving me access to advertising infrastructure all over Europe. In fact, with outdoor advertising run by a few large multinational corporations, a key that worked in Hong Kong, might also work in Tel Aviv and the idea for PublicAccess was born.
For the past two years I have been using my travels as an opportunity to build an archive of keys that open advertising infrastructure all around the world. The photos below are a selection of cities which I have gained access to, the list growing as I move around or work with artists from cities I have never been. The idea at this point is to make this archive available to anyone who wants it. I have in fact been giving these keys away slowly to personal requests. Over the next few months I will be creating a dedicated website for this project. The website will include a world map with accessible locations, a way to purchase the keys for a small donation, as well as 3d printable files and instructions. My hope is to make advertising takeover work easier for those who might want to get involved but don't know where to begin. As the keys are used and documentation of thier use is gathered in one place, I see this projects final stage being the exhibition of photographic documentation of work made using the archive that I have created. More info to follow as the website is finalized and this project goes fully live.
PublicAccess - Brussels, Belgium
PublicAccess - Hong Kong, China
PublicAccess - Los Angeles, California
PublicAccess - San Francisco, California
PublicAccess - New York, New York
PublicAccess - Shanghai, China
PublicAccess - Washington, DC
PublicAccess - Saint Louis, Missouri
PublicAccess - Oakland, California
Labels: ad takeovers, Australia, Brussels, Bus Shelters, California, China, europe, LA, New York, PublicAdCampaign, San Francisco, Washington D.C.
Recent LA Bus Shelter Takeovers and Panel Discussion
LA Bus Shelter Takeover 2014
Over a month ago I spoke to a group of urban planners, outdoor advertising executives, and concerned Los Angeles residents at a Westside Urban Forum panel titled, "Art and Billboards: What do we want the City of Los Angeles to look like?" I was invited to this discussion by Dennis Hathaway of Ban Billboard Blight, who has become a friend and colleague that I have kept in touch with over the years. It was an opportunity to espouse some of my more "radical" views on how public space should be used, to a group of people who might not normally think about the issue the way I do. This meant going beyond the typical arguments of legality, zoning, and blight that are normally associated with the outdoor advertising debate, to the more pressing question of how is all of this commercial signage effecting our social psyche.
Inevitably the fact that there could be a fundamental problem with using public space for commercial signage was lost on part of the crowd. People within the outdoor advertising industry obviously have a hard time listening to a model of public space that would eradicate the very business that they work for. That said the audience in general was receptive to the idea that there may be a problem with surrounding ourselves with a repetitive demand to consume at an ever increasing pace, and that public space and the health of our cities might be fundamentally at odds with the type of behavior that outdoor advertising promotes.
It was an interesting discussion and one I was happy to see the citizens of Los Angeles engaging head on. If only we did this more often and the issue did not seem to be a demand of the "educated media literate class" but rather the concern of every city inhabitant with an interest in retaining a modicum of self determination.
LA Bus Shelter Takeover 2014
Labels: ad takeovers, Bus Shelters, JCDecaux, LA, lectures, public access, PublicAdCampaign
New Murals Advertise Products, Despite Passing of Ordinance
Dennis Hathaway just brought a KCET news story to my attention that shows advertising working its way into Los Angeles art murals only months after the mural ordinance went into effect. He writes, "I told a lot of people during the process of passing this new mural ordinance that marketers would try to find a way to use it for commercial purposes, and now I have the highly unsatisfying opportunity to say, "I told you so."
The difference between fine art and advertising is already being stepped on. Only a few months after the passing of an ordinance designed to get murals out under commercial signage, some new works are branding product. More [ HERE] Labels: ad creep, graffiti, illegal advertising, LA
What the Hell is Going On?
The always informed Dennis Hathaway over at Ban Billboard Blight sent me this image asking if I had seen anything similar pop up in NYC recently because he was at a loss to decipher its meaning. Having no answer I did a quick Google search and found this very informative article that doesn't answer the question but dives further down the rabbit hole than I expected to be lead. Enjoy the mystery [ HERE] Labels: billboards, illegal art, LA
Los Angeles moves to lift decade-old ban on public murals
VIA The LA Times
Artists predicted a renaissance of public muraling across Los Angeles as the City Council voted 13-2 Wednesday to lift a decade-long ban on the large outdoor artworks.
"We owe it to our next generation to reclaim our legacy as a mural capital of the world," said Isabel Rojas-Williams, executive director of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles.
The action represents a culmination of years of hearings on a new regulatory scheme for murals. It seeks a balance between clashing interests: reviving the city's muralist tradition; protecting neighborhoods from unwanted intrusions of large, sometimes controversial artworks; and controlling a proliferation of advertising in the guise of art. More [ HERE] Labels: LA, LA Times, news articles, public art, public murals
Elle and Shark Toof in LA over NPA Billboards.
L.A.’s Digital Billboards Go Dark. What’s Next?
Most of Los Angeles's Digital Billboards Have Now Gone Dark
LA has been waging a war against Clear Channel Outdoor for nearly 6 years now, a battle which has cost the city unimaginable amounts of money. Finally today those offending digital signs which are at the center of this debacle have gone dark by court order. While I am happy to see the city of LA take back control its streets from a company who essentially thought it was above the law, I am disheartened that this battle has been waged due to the illegality of the signage and not more ideological issues about advertisings place on our city streets. One battle at a time I guess as I look forward to NPA, and CPI, finally packing their bags from NY and heading back to a city which supports its illegal flyposting business.
Notice a lack of blinky flashiness on the roads yesterday? That's because billboard companies Clear Channel Outdoors and CBS Outdoors actually turned off their digital billboards yesterday, per court order. The move is just the latest in the long-running and surprisingly kind of dramatic battle between billboard companies, other billboard companies, and the city. CBS and Clear Channel put up about 100 signs...More [ HERE] Labels: Ban Billboard Blight, billboards, Clear Channel, Contest Promotions, digital advertising, LA, legal, New York, NPA outdoor, public advertising
Legal Wars: L.A.’s Mobile Billboard Ban Upheld By Court
The city’s ban on billboards mounted to trailers and parked on city streets was upheld this week by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A San Fernando Valley company responsible for many of the billboards had sued the city shortly after the 2011 enactment of the ban, claiming that it violated the company’s First Amendment rights. More [ HERE] Labels: ad creep, Ban Billboard Blight, billboards, LA
LLEGALLY PAINTED PHIL FROST BILLBOARD STOLEN IN LA
Here’s one of the more bizarre art crimes of recent memory. Legendary street artist turned gallery king Phil Frost recently unleashed his considerable talents on a billboard promoting photographer Samuel Bayer’s show at Ace Gallery in Los Angeles. The gallery, presumably happy with the beautification of their sign, neglected to buff it, and now, a resourceful thief has stolen the entire thing. More [ HERE] Labels: billboard takeovers, billboards, LA, Other Artists
Legal Wars: End of the Line for L.A.’s Digital Billboards?
As per usual, Ban Billboard Blight has followed the digital billboard scandal in LA with incredible detail and has recently posted about a potential victory for city residents. What I find incredible about the entire sordid affair that is LA's billboard debacle, is the audacity with which OOH companies act in the face of public outcry and municipal demands. Most recently BBB reports that Clear Channel is threatening to sue the city of LA for well over 100 million dollars in lost revenue and damages if they force the company to remove its digital signage, which was put up illegally during a city wide billboard moratorium. I mean are you fucking kidding me? What other industry do you see acting illegally and then threatening to sue the government when they are told to stop doing illegal things? It is fantastically outrageous and at the same time incredibly disheartening that somehow they continue to get away with these tactics. It is scandals like this, and the many others we report on here at PublicAdCampaign that lead us to believe there is no compromise to allow outdoor advertising a place in our public spaces and that an outright ban is the only way to insure our streets and our minds are treated with the respect they deserve.
The final death knell for the 101 digital billboards now flashing their brilliantly-lighted ads on city streets may have been sounded yesterday, when the California Supreme Court refused to review a lower court ruling that says the permits issued for the signs must be revoked. More [HERE] Labels: Ban Billboard Blight, billboards, cbs outdoor, Clear Channel, digital advertising, LA
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