"Who Is Gonna Pay For This Mess" in the Maine Arts Journal Quarterly

Huge thanks to the Maine Arts Journal for including my essay from the PublicAccess Zine in its entirety. As much as the PublicAccess Zine was about the artwork and media created by other people using the tools that I produce, that essay is an important part of explaining my thinking about cities, the energy they create and the desire we share to harness that energy for our collective good. 

There is a collective us, in particular when we speak of cities. Parisians and Paolistas. These are the names we use when our cities reach scale and we stop referring to ourselves as from somewhere and instead as part of something. I’m a New Yorker. All of a sudden the bustle on our streets hits a fever pitch and our collective attention pervades the air so heavily that contracts are drawn up to determine who will be responsible for the accumulation of all those eyeballs and what percentages will be offered in return. Out of thin air and a saccadic frenzy, value is created in the cohabitation of a shared plot of land.

Curly, Philadelphia, PA

Walk around any major metropolis and you will recognize the network of signs, often connected to public infrastructure, set up to mine this resource. Pay attention. 10,000 impressions a day. 10,000 attentions paid. Put a sign there. And so it goes, expanding outward from the centers of density until the attention dissipates and it simply isn’t cost effective to build a structure to focus our thoughts. Calculations must be made. Entrepreneurial businessmen must loose sleep chasing their imaginations.

Pedro Sega, Madrid, Spain

And yet this resource isn’t like the others. This resource is human. When you sift through the soil, I lose nothing, but when you dig into my mind, I lose my train of thought. See what you pay attention to is what you are thinking about, and what you are thinking about makes you who you are. The two inextricably linked. The development of your thoughts, a direct linear result of the things you have attended to along the way. Which is one way of saying that what we put in front of our faces should be worth the price.

Joe Boruchow, Prosperity Theology, Philadelphia

I guess we could simply decide that despite our numbers we don’t want to mine the hills of our attention, leaving us instead with extended vistas of avenues and alleyways. The absence of signification, a welcome respite from the daily intoxication of our mediated world. It’s a worthwhile consideration, like leaving some trees in the forest, or some oil in the ground. But ask a Muscovite or Angelista, whose attention has created so much potential, to leave untapped the bounty of their creation and you will understand why our cities look the way they do. A constant roar blankets our streets and our bodies vibrate in proximity to one another. Who could stop us from erecting signs?

Matt Starr, New York, New York, photo by Pete Voelker

Dr D, London

And so they appear one after another along the horizon, heavy machinery erected downtown to tap the ferment of our minds. Each bus shelter, every taxi topper, billboard, flyposter, lollipop, phonebooth, and info kiosk is an industrial excavator mining your thoughts, momentarily distracting the trajectory of our thinking and converting that moment into a valuable resource. In truth, I find the whole thing a bit miraculous, like a well that doesn’t produce unless we all stand around watching it. Look away and the flow stops, turn back around and a steady stream of value comes pouring out. This is the great alchemy of our cities and the foundation upon which to make our demands.

Robert Montgomery, Stavanger, Norway, photo by Mark Rigney

Today the lion’s share of the attentional resources collected in our cities are siphoned off and sold to advertisers. Promotion swoons for opportunity and an exorbitant amount of money is exchanged to orchestrate what we are thinking about, if only for a brief moment in time. Repeated over the geography and infrastructure of our cities, those brief moments cohere into a meaningful focus, the echoes of which reverberate in our heads. One could take issue with this fact, the echoing, and I do. It bothers me to think about all the neurons we have encoded with the rambling logic of commercial myopia. The sustained focus we offer up to the machinations of consumer culture. Remember that the price for the intrusion is not only our distraction, but the needing it leaves behind.

Dede, Tel Aviv, Israel

And yet the weight of these impositions pales in comparison to the forfeiture of our collective resources and the missed opportunity to let the combustion on our streets reflect the inner dialogue of our minds. As it stands now those advertisers, intent to arrest your eyes and momentarily lay the groundwork for your thinking, empty their coffers into privatized hands. Multinational landlords of our shared public spaces collect the bounty of our attention and haul it off to shareholders and investment bankers. Modest revenue sharing schemes and public infrastructure contracts obscuring the obvious fact that the electricity between us has quietly come to serve someone else.

ARRT!, Brunswick, Maine, Brooklyn Ad Box

As a New Yorker I am always surprised how the clarity of this grievance escapes us. Our willingness to squander the abundance produced by our cohabitation, given the limited resources with which we make due. But what if the harvesting of our collective attention paid for something more than a blanket of consumerist propaganda? What if the alchemy of living in such close proximity to one another, for crowded trains and bustling streets, for gathering together on an island, or building a life together at the rivers bend, was that the network of signs on our streets championed the public’s interests? Each bus shelter, every taxi topper, billboard, flyposter, lollipop, phonebooth, and info kiosk, an opportunity to think for ourselves.

Icy and Sot, Istanbul, Turkey

This book documents a small selection of posters made using PublicAccess keys. It is a crude attempt to daydream into reality a more utopic future and promote a fleeting revolution from which the incantations on our streets burst with locality. Those who participated represent a small portion of the public with the time and privilege to dedicate to such activities. It does not escape me that a democracy of our voices would look a lot different than the pages of this book. But these efforts guide my belief that there are new models on the horizon for the redistribution of what we create by being together, tightly packed and with so much to say. Models that tap the wealth of our collective project and offer it back up to us as raw material with which to shape new cities. Each sign, an opportunity to distract us from ourselves, in the search for one another.

Guerrilla Subway PSAs Urge Riders Not To 'Snitch' On Farebeaters

VIA: Gothamist

The MTA's hectoring poster campaign aimed at combatting fare evasion is getting a radical makeover, thanks to an anonymous group of New Yorkers with a simple message for their fellow riders: "Don't snitch. Swipe." More [HERE]

Proposed State Law Could Put LED Billboard Boat Company Under Water

VIA: Gothamist

The as-yet-unsinkable LED billboard barge that appeared off the coast of Manhattan last year—since earning near universal condemnation from waterfront-loving New Yorkers—may soon find itself the target of a statewide ban. More [HERE]

Payphone-Replacing LinkNYC Kiosks Not Generating Projected Revenue

Intersection seems to be loosing money on their LINK NYC project by failing to meet projected ad revenue targets and essentially having to pay the city to operate a public infrastructure. This yearly loss doesn't even account the initial installation cost of development and hardware. It would seem like this business deal was a bad idea. And yet, Intersection continues to rapidly expand into other markets like London, Newark, and Philadelphia. What this article fails to mention is LINK NYC was never about the ad revenue but rather the data collection and Google's long term interest in harvesting the digital exhaust produced by cities. New York and most other cities aren't foolish enough to go all Quayside and render Google ground up control, so Intersection is going at it piecemeal. If the LINK NYC towers loose a few million on advertising, that is a small price to pay for the access to NYC's streets and the behavioral data that can be collected at scale with such a massive public infrastructure deployment. And dont think that traditional advertising is the only revenue source. The sale and use of behavioral data is incredibly lucrative and probably the main source of projected income as traditional forms of consumer manipulation give way to softer forms of quiet influence that leave us wanting without a clue where the wanting came from.

VIA: Gotham Gazette

During a February 2016 press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio made the first phone call on New York City’s first LinkNYC kiosk, stationed at the corner of 16th Street and 3rd Avenue. “It will be the biggest and fastest network in the world, and completely free of charge. And one thing I know about my fellow New Yorkers, they like things that are free of charge," said de Blasio. More [HERE]

New York Bans Alcohol Ads on Most City Property

Advertising through repetition makes more likely that you will do something. It is an exercise of soft power that tips the scale one way in favor of those doing the advertising. Like the house at a casino. They don't win all the time, but the odds are in their favor. Advertising doesn't make you do something, but it makes it more likely. Considering alcohol has it's own addictive pull, we probably shouldn't give it any more advantages.

VIA: The NY Times

Eighteen months after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority banned alcohol advertisements on New York City buses, in subway cars and in stations, the City of New York has followed suit, instituting its own ban on most city-owned properties. More [HERE]

HUF AND ERIC HAZE TEAM UP FOR COLLABORATIVE NYC MURAL

There is no line between commerce and art these days because they have the same goal. Ideas and integrity are a thing of the past as we all desperately try to make it in a world that is increasingly competitive and precarious.

VIA: Juxtapoz

To coincide with HUF’s most recent NYC-inspired Spring 2019 collection, the apparel and footwear brand has teamed up with renowned graffiti-artist Eric Haze on a mural installation in the city. More [HERE]

Me and Clint Merry Xmas

  Good old Me and Clint going all out for the holidays

Floating Billboard Barges are the New Reality for LES Waterfront

VIA: Bowery Boogie

With the gold rush of the Lower East Side waterfront comes the vultures. Several readers have noticed the recent influx of billboard barges floating across the East River. As this area continues to gentrify, and with the prospect of three new large-scale luxury developments looming, those eyeballs are obviously evermore valuable to advertisers. More [HERE]

A Campaign to Replace Public Ads with Art Lives on as a Book and an Exhibition

VIA: Hyperallergic

It’s been just over a year since the launch of Art in Ad Places, a guerrilla project to replace a small fraction of the flotsam of display advertising filling the New York cityscape with art. Now that the 52-week public service campaign has run its course, an exhibition of photographs of the public art project shot by street art photographer Luna Park, and an accompanying book, will ensure that the ephemeral project endures. More [HERE]

MTA Board Bans Alcohol Ads on Subways, Buses and Trains

NEW YORK CITY — The MTA canned the sale of advertising to beer, wine or liquor producers, according to a decision made by board members Wednesday.

The MTA won't sell any new ads for alcohol of any MTA property, which includes Metro-North train cars, subway stations, inside cars, and on MTA buses, members of the authority's board decided at a Wednesday meeting. More [HERE]

LinkNYC Improves Privacy Policy, Yet Problems Remain

Since first appearing on the streets of New York City in 2016, LinkNYC’s free public Wi-Fi kiosks have prompted controversy. The initial version of the kiosks’ privacy policy was particularly invasive: it allowed for LinkNYC to store personal browser history, time spent on a particular website, and lacked clarity about how LinkNYC would handle government demands for user data, among others issues. While CityBridge, the private consortium administering the network, has thankfully incorporated welcome changes to its use policy, several problems unfortunately remain.

More [HERE]

NYC subway to get thousands of digital ad screens

Looks like the inevitable is happening and the moving image will become a more integral part of your daily commute.

VIA: NY Times
More [HERE]

Cuomo To Corporate America: Please Adopt A Subway Station

VIA: Gothamist

Governor Andrew Cuomo stood before a room of labor leaders and business interests at an Association for a Better New York breakfast Thursday, flashing a slide decorated with corporate logos: Blackstone, Estee Lauder, Hearst, MasterCard. For contributions in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, Cuomo said, private business can join these companies in a new initiative to sponsor subway improvements. A separate "adopt-a-subway" program will allow companies to sponsor individual stations. More [HERE]

Where's the Boundary Between Public Art and Advertising?

VIA: City Lab

The Fearless Girl and Charging Bull statues have been facing off in Manhattan’s financial district since March 8. The optics are still startling: a girl, fists on her hips, ponytail swaying, stares down a 7,100-pound bull, which stands 11 feet tall and 16 feet long in the heart of one of the world’s most powerful economic centers. More [HERE]

Sophie Calle - Double Game "Phone Booth" 1994

I had been planning to attend the Creative Time, Sophie Calle project at the Greenwood Cemetary last weekend for a while. I am excited by participatory work that uses art to fuel a connection with one another, and in this case a beautiful part of NYC. As luck would have it, my friend Luna Park reminded me of a small phonebooth project Sophie did back in the mid 90's. In it she is challenged by Paul Auster to...

"Pick one spot in the city and begin to think of it as yours. It doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter what. A street corner, a subway entrance, a tree in the park. Take on this place as your responsibility. Keep it clean. Beautify it. Think of it as an extension of who you are, as a part of your identity. take as much pride in it as you would your own home."

I adore this sentiment and motivate my work on similar grounds. I really believe that by interacting with, and acting upon the city, we become better stewards of public space and with it grow deeply invested in our cities. It's like a relationship in that way. The more you give, the more the city gives back and a rich public life is the result of a deeply engaged population. For a bit more info on Sophie's project [HERE]

These New Yorkers Are Covering Advertisements with Art

In case you didnt know, working over advertising to demand a more democratic use of our shared public space along with the ideas contained within your message itself, is a thing. AiAP is one of a few public projects making sure thats the case and you should know about what they are doing. 

VIA: The Nation

photo by Luna Park

More [HERE]

NYC Phone Booths Are Being Transformed Into Feminist Guerrilla Art With 'Resistance Is Female'

artwork by Sara Enranthal

In the AiAP model, the Resistance is Female campaign has taken to using NYC phonebooths as thier preferred method of cultural dissemination. As you can see from this photograph, they still need to figure out where to put the trash they remove once they are finished installing but I am happy to see thier message getting coverage on Gothamist, and the nightly news with Greg Mocker. More [HERE]

Tunney Art Hits NYC Billboards To Celebrate Landmarks

This is kind of old news but as far as I understand, these billboards "donated" to Peter Tunney artworks are actually illegal billboards that cannot hold traditional advertising content. If someone from Outfront wants to confirm or deny that in the comments, it would be greatly appreciated. Paint The City seems to be the organizing agency with All Vision as thier largest partner. I don't mean to be a debbie downer but this ain't altruism. 

VIA: Billboard Insider

The NYC Landmarks 50 Alliance and OUTFRONT Media are working with artist Peter Tunney to run a billboard art series highlighting New York City landmarks. You can read a mediavillage post about the project from OUTFRONT Media’s Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning & Development, Andy Sriubas here. Insider talked with Carly Zipp of OUTFRONT Media about the project. More [HERE]

MTA's 'See Something Say Something' Ads Have Been Remixed (Now With 100% Less Fearmongering)

Simple, effective and all around proper public participation in the curation of our shared environment. Bravo to those at the helm of this project. 

VIA: The Village Voice

The MTA's long-running "If You See Something, Say Something" ad campaign has already been through nine official iterations over its lifetime. Now, thanks to some anonymous New Yorkers, there's a tenth, unofficial version, that attempts to repurpose a campaign born of the fear and suspicion of the 9/11 era into a statement of solidarity in the Age of Trump. More [HERE]

Subway Therapy Project Returning Public Space to its Utopic Potential

Be it graffiti, street art, public art, or just plain scrawl, the need to mark and make meaning in public space is intrinsic to its proper function for both the individual and the collective. By monopolizing the walls of our city, and normalizing commercial discourse over public interests, advertising erodes our ability, desire, and right to use public space in meaningful and impactful ways. The Subway Therapy project at Union Square is a fine example of necessity overcoming expectation, and of public space returning to its utopic potential. More info about the Subway Therapy project [HERE]