This blog is a resource for ad takeover artists and information about contemporary advertising issues in public space. If you have content you would like to share, please send us an email.
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
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Meet the Flintstone House, a Home So Odd It Was Declared a ‘Public Nuisance’
This article isn't about advertising but I was struck by one of the last paragraphs and how similar in sentiment it is to my thinking about outdoor advertising in most cities.
“The panel cannot support a project that proceeds on a ‘build first, ask for permission later’ basis,” the order said. Ms. Fang’s improvements, the panel added, were “designed to be very intrusive, resulting in the owner’s ‘vision’ for her property being imposed on many other properties and views, without regard to the desires of other residents.”
In this San Francisco Bay town, rich homeowners cry foul over the fact that a visual intrusion has sullied thier airspace, contributing to thier discomfort in thier living environment. This house, despite what you may think of it, does not demand anything more than a billboard would and yet we allow private landlords in cities to sully our shared public spaces without hesitation.
A small town in the San Francisco Bay Area is apparently unamused by improvements that one of its high-profile residents has made to a distinctive property known as the Flintstone House. More [HERE]
The PublicAccess Website Has Been Updated To Include New Cities and Photos
The PublicAccess Project site has updated with new cities, new keys, and new work done by artists and individuals from around the world. As PublicAdCampaign readers will know, we launched the PublicAccess project just a few months ago and have been steadily sending out keys ever since, as well as gathering information about distant lands and thier advertising infrastructure. Check the video shot during a much needed stock replenishment.
As an ongoing project, we are always looking to expand the PublicAccess map and get more people involved. If you don't see your city on the map, but want to help us figure it out, email us and we will be happy to troubleshoot the problem with you.
Until then, enjoy some of the fantastic work that is being produced with PublicAccess tools and get involved yourself by getting a key right now.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A San Francisco Muni bus stop “advertisement” in the Mission District depicts Chester Cheetah as Jesus, drawn hanging from a rough sketch of a cross with the words, “He Died For Our Snacks.” More [HERE]
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.
UC Berkely Class Talk and San Francisco/Oakland Bus Shelter Access
Me and the UC Berkeley students in front of a takeover in Oakland, CA. 2014
At the end of April I was in Oakland visiting a group of students at UC Berkeley California. The students were wrapping up a seminar class on the philosophy of street art taught by an old high school friend of mine, Seth Yalcin. I haven't spoke to Seth since high school and he found my work when he was forced to watch This Space Available on a leg of his flight home. The documentary was a larger investigation of outdoor advertising's role in public space and the various actors that fall on every side of the debate. I guess his interest was peaked and shortly thereafter he got in touch about putting together a syllabus.
Students seemed to come from a few different disciplines, including urban planning and development, which I was happy to see. We spoke for about an hour in class and then went out to the streets for a quick little action. I absolutely love teaching and working with students of all ages. The energy and enthusiasm, in most students, is infectious.
Market Street, San Francisco 2014
While I was in Oakland I made sure to get out in San Francisco to test some of the infrastructure there and see what was accessible. There are a plethora of bus shelter and free standing advertising frames littered throughout the city operated by Clear Channel. It didn't take long before two trips to the hardware store had fashioned the elusive 5 sided tamper proof bit that is required to open most of these structures.
Hand crafted tool for San Francisco Clear Channel advertising
Mission Street public restroom 2014
While in San Francisco, I noticed that JCDecaux operates the public restrooms sporadically strewn around Bart Station entrances. I carry all of my keys with me on my travels so I quickly replaced this advertisement to show that I could. Slowly an archive of keys is building which will be put online in the coming months as the PublicAccess project.
In a public toilet outside Paris, Jean-François Decaux lays out his plans to conquer America. His company, JCDecaux, has become the world’s biggest outdoor advertiser by building posh potties and slick bus stops designed by the likes of Norman Foster and Philip Cox and plastering them with ads. While the French company operates in more than 1,800 cities across the globe, from Berlin to Bangkok, it has just 3 percent of the U.S. market. “We’ve had to create a new way in,” says Decaux, co-chief executive of the company his father founded. More [HERE]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2012 - San Francisco, California
Liberated Billboards Salute U.S. Drones
The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has unveiled a new billboard campaign to welcome unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, into the U.S. airspace system.
On December 13, 2012 the CDC successfully apprehended and rehabilitated billboards across San Francisco, including the intersection of Folsom and 12th Street. The CDC released the corrected ads to support our colleagues in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who have been mandated by the FAA Modernization and Reform Act to integrate drones into American airspace by 2015.
As a public-private partnership between the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security, the billboards feature a Predator drone patrolling the skies above a pastel-tinted suburban neighborhood. A missile streaks from the drone and bears down on adjacent text, which asks the question: WHERE IS DUE PROCESS?
As a private correctional institution, the CDC urges the rapid adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles by domestic law enforcement, which will introduce all Americans to the safety, discipline and security found in California’s penal facilities. Recognizing the benefits of increased efficiency found in private industry, the CDC applauds the use of drones to streamline and improve government operations. Unmanned aerial vehicles relieve federal courts of time-consuming litigation and simplify legal procedures under the executive branch, as demonstrated by the successful executions of U.S. citizens Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Samir Khan, and 16-year-old Abdulrahman Al-Aulaqi in Yemen last year.
The corrected billboards are currently at liberty and seem to have successfully readjusted to public life. However, these ads will remain under surveillance by department staff to prevent recidivism and any potential lapse into prior criminal behavior.
Founded in 1994, the CDC is a private correctional facility that protects the public through the secure management, discipline and rehabilitation of California's advertising. The department was initiated by individuals who felt that public correctional facilities were insufficiently managing the state's most criminal elements and that effective care and treatment would improve under the supervision of a private institution.
For more information on the department’s operations and programs, contact the CDC Office of Communications at cdc@revolutionist.com.
The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has unveiled a new campaign of bus shelter ads to support Israel’s right to bomb Gaza back to the Middle Ages.
On November 27, 2012 the CDC successfully apprehended and rehabilitated advertisements across San Francisco, including the intersection of Geary and Scott Street. The CDC released the corrected ads to mark two weeks since the start of Israel’s military offensive against the Gaza Strip, which resulted in 167 Palestinian deaths. The ads were discharged in areas adjacent to hospitals, schools and government offices, symbolizing the buildings that were demolished during Israel’s air and naval bombardment.
An innovative collaboration between the CDC and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), the ads feature the rubble of an anonymous city with a quote from Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai regarding recent hostilities: THE GOAL OF THE OPERATION IS TO SEND GAZA BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES. Beneath the rubble, additional text poses the question: WHEN DOES ISRAEL’S SELF-DEFENSE BECOME A WAR CRIME?
As a private correctional institution, the CDC recognizes the need for control and security in areas under Israeli military occupation such as the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the department salutes our Israeli colleagues in their efforts to maintain a six year blockade of Gaza and transform the coastal enclave into the world’s largest open-air correctional facility. The CDC also recognizes Israel’s persistent and tireless effort to introduce Gaza to the benefits of medieval life, which include cost savings from the elimination of medical care, educational resources and government institutions.
The rehabilitated advertisements are currently at liberty and seem to have successfully readjusted to public life. However, these ads will remain under surveillance by department staff to prevent recidivism and any potential lapse into prior criminal behavior.
Founded in 1994, the CDC is a private correctional facility that protects the public through the secure management, discipline and rehabilitation of California's advertising. The department was initiated by individuals who felt that public correctional facilities were insufficiently managing the state's most criminal elements and that effective care and treatment would improve under the supervision of a private institution.
For more information on the department’s operations and programs, contact the CDC Office of Communications at cdc@revolutionist.com.
In SF, billboards proliferate, despite voter-approved ban
As many PublicAdCampaign readers know, litigation against offending outdoor advertising companies can be a long and arduous affair for the lawyers tasked with upholding the law. This article from the Bay Citizen proves this fact once again, citing the work of two of the most difficult outdoor advertising firms, Fuel and Contest promotions. These companies actions are not isolated to San Francisco but are similarly represented in NY, LA, Chicago and other major metropolitan cities around the US.
When Milo Hanke moved from Boston to San Francisco in 1982, he found a city in need of improvement.
“This was the most charmed and enchanted city,” Hanke recalled, “but there were certain urbanscapes I really enjoyed at night that were blocked by signs. I dreamed one day there would be no billboards.” More [HERE]
This press release ended up in my inbox this morning. Its great to see the OWS movement not only occupying public space but also those private spaces which have intruded on our shared public environment. If the messages of commercial advertising encroach upon our minds then it only seems fitting to retake them and use them to project our collective visions.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 19, 2012 - San Francisco, California Liberated Ads Confront Foreclosure Crisis
The California Department of Corrections (CDC) has unveiled a new campaign of bus shelter ads to confront America’s home foreclosure crisis.
During the week of January 16th, the CDC successfully apprehended, rehabilitated and discharged more than one dozen bus shelter advertisements throughout San Francisco, including the intersection of California and Davis Street, one block from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The CDC’s red, white and blue advertisements declare: MORTGAGE IN TROUBLE? OCCUPY THE BANKS along with the website, www.OccupyWallStWest.org. Produced with the assistance of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the corrected advertisements feature the rooftop of an American home set against clear blue skies with the phrase: Making Home Affordable.
The corrected ads were released shortly prior to January 20th in anticipation of a day-long, nonviolent shut down of San Francisco’s Financial District by Occupy SF. January 20th also marks the one year anniversary of the controversial Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted First Amendment protection to corporate political expenditures. Occupy protestors are demanding a halt to predatory foreclosures and evictions by banks and the end of corporate personhood. They will be taking their demands directly to the offices of banks and corporations in San Francisco to stop business as usual on January 20th.
The rehabilitated advertisements are currently at liberty and seem to have successfully readjusted to public life. However, these ads will remain under surveillance by department staff to prevent recidivism and any potential lapse into prior criminal behavior.
Founded in 1994, the CDC is a private correctional facility that protects the public through the secure management, discipline, and rehabilitation of California's advertising. The department was initiated by individuals who felt that public correctional facilities were insufficiently managing the state's most criminal elements and that effective care and treatment would improve under the supervision of a private institution.
For more information on the operations and programs of the CDC, contact the California Department of Corrections Office of Communications at cdc@revolutionist.com.
Endless Canvas recently posted a nice article on the troubling public space issues facing Portland and LA. The article reflects why PublicAdCampaign exists and calls into question how we use the streets and walls of the cities we live in. With an increasingly advertising centric use of public space not only do we risk polluting our surroundings with corporate sloganeering but we loose opportunities to enrich our neighborhoods with content that speaks to our personal lives and struggles.
(Above – Permission murals by Jules Muck declared as illegal graffiti.)
If you ask a person on the street “Is there a difference between advertising, murals and graffiti?” they would probably say “Yes, of coarse”, considering they each have their own definition. However, those in positions of power in the cities of Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles have made conflicting claims as to the significance of these definitions. Billboard companies have accused murals as being advertisements, and City offices claim that local murals are illegal graffiti. Meanwhile, graffiti and mural artists, who struggle to legally provide beauty and insight for their community, are stuck in between a web of legal code. The future of public expression in Portland and LA, and even America as a whole, is under compromise. Here are the signs of the probable ban on your right to public art. More [Here]
Fuel Outdoor, a New York company that put up hundreds of illegal advertising signs in L.A. and then took them down last year after losing a five-year court battle to overturn the city’s ban on new off-site signs, has suffered a major loss in a similar fight against sign regulations in San Francisco. [More Here]
San Francisco General Advertising Sign Program Annual Report
San Francisco has made it a priority to reign in the over proliferation of commercial media. While this is no small task, a clear cut agenda seems to help immensely.
"The primary goals of the program are to build and maintain an inventory of all general advertising signs in San Francisco, to correct outstanding sign‐related Planning Code violations, and to remove unlawful signs."
This years General Advertising Sign Program Annual Report suggests that the goals have been met and San Francisco now has a full inventory of all commercial signage and is aware of thier legal status. A step in the right direction to control and a step in the right direction to removal.
Locals Wage War On "Mafia War" Creators Over Illegal Ad
First this mess was reported in San Francisco and now it has hit the east coast. Truthfully I don't mind this type of intervention in public space, it just grinds my gears when I lean down and realize I've been asked to play Mafia Wars.
Of course the people behind the time-suck games on Facebook are responsible for offline trash as well. Zynga, the developer of Mafia Wars and Farmville, went the illegal route for their latest marketing campaign, sticking fake dollar bills to the sidewalks of both New York and San Francisco. Yesterday NYC the Blog called attention to their tactics—which have been getting criticized by local blogs all week—noting it's unlawful to deface any street or sidewalk with printed matter, including advertisements. [More Here]
People have different opinions on Graffiti in public space. Arguments against it often focus on the blighting aspects, its lack of aesthetics, and its relation to crime or gang activity. I understand the concerns regarding scrawl that is haphazardly placed by heavy bombing and a lack of attention to other peoples experience of their public environment, but unlike most people I see this problem as a symptom of a need, rather than an interest in wanton destruction. The need I speak of is the public's obvious desire to use public space as both a canvas for artwork as well as a venue for public communication. There is a basic need to visually interact with the spaces you live in, evidenced by a history of artistic public practices that includes graffiti. When those actions are criminalized and spaces are overrun by private communications, a competition arises between public and private forces. This Shroom piece is evidence of this battle and I am always excited to see graffiti taking on these politics instead of simply bombing every street corner.
San Francisco Loses Round in Legal Fight Over “Mom and Pop Store” Billboards
Dennis Hathaway over at Ban Billboard Blight has reduced the ruling between Contest Promotions and the city of San Francisco to a manageable read. While Los Angeles and New York are yet to confront Contest Promotions and the twisting of legal language for their own devices, this ruling does not bode well for either city. We can take some comfort in the fact that in New York at least, a large portion of NPA's (now Contest Promotions) street level billboards have been removed and they have stopped Wildposting every construction shed in the city with illegal commercial content. We will keep you posted if either LA or New York decides to challenge Contest Promotions in an effort to clean up our city and prevent outdoor advertising firms from determining how our public spaces are used with little consideration for the rights of the residents or for the efficacy of our city government in controlling commercial interests.
In 2002, voters in San Francisco overwhelmingly approved a no-exceptions ban on all new billboards and other forms of off-site advertising. However, last week an L.A.-based sign company won a ruling in federal court that could seriously undermine that ban, and may have implications for the effort to limit outdoor advertising here in Los Angeles. [More Here]
Is NPA Shutting Down And Letting Contest Promotions Take Over?
Photo Shai Dahan, 37th & 3rd avenue
In the past few days I have noticed that in NYC a large number of NPA's illegal street level billboards have been covered with white paper. This comes in the wake of over 15 NPA ads in LA going white just over a week ago. The fact that the illegal billboards in NY and LA did not get new copy immediately after being whited out makes me think that this is NPA's doing and not the work of protestors. Why they are doing this I cannot be sure, but it should be noted that NPA's website is offline while their sister company, Contest Promotions, is still up and running.
18th street and 10th avenue
We all know NPA operates illegally in both cities so it might be expected that the recent removal of Fuel Outdoor ads due to their illegality, and the jailing of a landlord responsible for an illegal supergraphic in LA, has caused the company to shut down completely. If this were true, one would expect all of the companies illegal locations to be whited out, but that's not what we are seeing. In fact I have seen NPA locations around the city covered only sporadically. Sometimes from a single vantage point you can see one NPA ad that has been covered white and one that still retains copy. So what is going on?
I believe that NPA is finally shutting down and letting Contest Promotions takeover its illegal sign business. Through a twisting of words and meaning, the new business model adopted by Contest Promotions is attempting to legalize a portion of the illegal signage NPA was running. To understand what Contest Promotions does with NPA illegal signage in order to make them legal we suggest Ban Billboard Blight's post, "Contest Promotions Signs: Helping Mom & Pop Stores, or Creating Illegal Blight?"
If we are correct and Contest Promotions is taking over, only the signs that are placed on the sides of buildings where a viable business operates with an attendant on duty to man a bogus raffle box, would be legal. And indeed this is what we are seeing in most areas of NY. Locations like 19th street and 9th avenue (above) where there is a pizza shop open still have copy, while places like 37th street and 3rd avenue, which appears to be office space, have gone white.
Another way to tell if the NPA signage will likely fall into Contest Promotions hands under the assumption of legality, is by looking at the placards on all NPA signs. If the sign reads "Win these posters and other prizes inside, La Casa Del Pan, at 3802 Broadway avenue." or some other actual business, this sign will likely be taken by Contest Promotions. On the other hand, if the sign reads "Coming soon to this location, win these posters and other prizes inside." this location will not be viable as there is no business to operate their phony raffle boxes. From what we can tell those locations with a placard that refers to the business inside have retained copy while those without a valid business have gone white over the past few days.
Union avenue & Ainslie street
And if we are right about NPA going under and allowing Contest Promotions to takeover in a bid for legality, all of the wildposting locations around the city should be removed as Contest Promotions cannot justify this illegal activity. And sure enough, after the heavy rains last week I noticed many of the illegal wildposting locations NPA operated at construction sites and other locations around the city were either scrapped clean or postered white. It seemed that overnight many of the blatantly illegal wildposting locations were removed in a coordinated effort. I have seen people try to remove wildpostings from construction fences when they are dry and it is nearly impossible. I think NPA, knowing this, took advantage of the weather and removed illegal wildposting locations around the city knowing that they were going under and Contest Promotions was taking over.
14th street & 9th avenue
One last interesting thing we have noticed is that certain locations which could be operated by Contest Promotions under the guise of legality have still gone white. In the second image on this post you will see two NPA ads, one white, one with copy. They are both adhered to the same parking lot and one would assume they would both retain copy because there is a Contest Promotions raffle box at the parking agent house. It so happens that one of these locations is visible from the High Line park and because of this would be illegal under NYC law regardless of permitting, etc. We hope that this means that Contest Promotions will at least be operating within the confines of NYC law even if they are misconstruing the use of 1st party signage against all reason.
We can't say for sure that these NPA locations are without copy because of this transfer of ownership in an attempt to "go legal," but it seems likely. NPA has never been one to stand down without being pressured to do so. Recent litigation in San Francisco and a pledge from the city of NY to take the illegal public advertising issue more seriously, I believe has made it difficult for NPA operate so blatantly. We only hope that the efforts of hundreds of NYSAT participants, including those arrested by the NYPD for protesting the illegal signage, were in some way responsible for this change in direction and move towards a more commercial free public space.
We will keep you posted if things change, or our theory is proved correct. Until then we hope Contest Promotions looses its battle with San Francisco, and that their bogus scheme to keep operating a portion of NPA's illegal signage is proven to be just that, bogus.
The article below was just sent to me after a quick Facebook communication with Eddie Colla. Eddie's reasoning behind using the streets for his work is incredible and should be checked out here. The article, penned in 2007, juxtaposes San Francisco's history of political posters with what was at that time a rampant increase in illegal postering by our good friends at NPA. From what I understand, SF has been gaining more and more control of their illegal advertising issues through the hard work and dedication of a few people at the Department of Public Works, and other non-profits like San Francisco Beautiful. Proposition D, the privately crafted, pro-billboard measure was decisively defeated at the polls in November of 2009, and shows SF's continued interest in keeping its streets advertising free.
Commenting on the difference between corporate use of public space versus artistic use in the form of political and socially minded postering, Workman of SF beautiful says, “I prefer that activist posters go up on a designated community board,” and added, “but there’s no way that one political artist can create as much visual noise as the corporate street teams who seem to transform a neighborhood over night.”
To me this is always something we must refer back to when deciding who has access to public space. We want to see advertising leave the public environment, but this does not mean we want to limit the public's use of that space. This may seem hypocritical but it is not. Individual use of our public environment is a way for residents to communicate with one another. If those communications are put forth by individuals, they do not have the ability to overwhelm our public thoughts in the way that corporate advertising intends to.
VIA El Tecolote written by obynn Takayama, Nov 15, 2007
In the 1970s and ‘80s, political posters filled the Mission District’s urban landscape. Juan Fuentes started making posters because he said it democratized art. “The power of art is its ability to distribute information. Poster making is more immediate than oil painting, which could take months to finish. So the message could reach more people, faster, with posters.” [More Here]
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.
