Add-Art 2.0 Is Available Now!

Steve Lambert has continued to be an inspiration for me over the years in large part because he has been able to so seamlessly work in a multitude of media. Add-Art is a Firefox Plugin he and a few others developed a while back that removes browser ads and replaces them with curated art content. The plugin just got a reboot that you can download [HERE] or simply visit add-art.org for more information. With the update comes a slightly different, and more participatory format. Image databases are downloadable from curators like Rhizome, PublicAdCampaign, and NASA, but anyone can submit an image set themselves. If approved, that new image set is made available online just like the curated sets. I think it's a wonderful update to the original Add-Art and hope PublicAdCampaign users will not only use the Plugin, but also submit thier own imagery for consideration.

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.

This Space Available - Trailer Release

The trailer for This Space available was just released today and we couldn't be more excited to see the film. Take a look and we hope to see you at the IFC November 5th. Get tickets [Here]

Goodbye AAA, You Will Be Missed!

Steve Lambert and the AAA have been personal heroes and sometimes colleagues in the fight to re-imagine a more properly functioning public space over the past 6 years. That said, it is not without a deep sense of regret that we watch the AAA sign off while Steve goes on to pursue other projects. While the AAA is merely taking hiatus, we mourn the loss of such an incredibly affective agency whose goals followed such similar paths to that of PublicAdCampaign.

PERFORMANCE/LECTURE FOR “FREE” AT NEW MUSEUM SAT. 11/6 3PM

I don't often post things that don't relate directly to outdoor advertising but I'm making an exception. Steve Lambert, founder of the Anti-Advertising Agency, friend, and one of a few personal heroes, will be giving a free lecture at the New Museum this Saturday. While I will still be in Philadelphia, I highly suggest that you attend. Not only is Steve an incredibly intelligent and articulate speaker, he's freaking hilarious. This talk/Walking tour is sure to be a great way to spend your saturday afternoon.

PosterChild Tells NPA What He Thinks Of Their Contest Promotions

Yesterday I went out with PosterChild, Jason Eppink, Steve Lambert, and Packard Jennings for lunch. Our talk inevitably surrounded upcoming personal projects, collaborative street actions and the age of the urinals at the Old Town Bar on 18th street. Posterchild was leaving for Toronto that evening and had one last project to put up before he left. Targeting NPA City Outdoor's pathetic attempt to convert their third party illegal advertisements into legitimate first party signs, he remade the typical sign that now adorns all NPA illegal signage in the city. This piece was made at the corner of 19th street and 10th avenue in the same location Walker Tieser was arrested during the NYSAT project.

Meeting with InWindow a Pleasure

Last Wednesday I meet with Steve Birnhak, of InWindow advertising along with Steve Lambert and Laura Maccleery. As I said in some earlier posts, Steve and his partner Ray were actually quite interesting characters, if not simply for their desire to work with the public and find a way to operate their business within the confines of the the law. They seem genuinely concerned with the city, it's economic predicament as well as the beauty of our shared public spaces.

One of the immediate arguments Steve and Ray offered for continuing their illegal storefront vinyl wrap business was simple aesthetics. We sat at Franelli's in SOHO, across from an abandoned storefront whose paper window coverings, hiding construction debris, within were beginning to fall down and become "unsightly". This was pointed out as a good reason to employ giant billboard sized street level advertisements to cover up the problem. According to InWindow, the ads prevented the typical quick decline associated with urban blight as explained by the broken window theory.

A few days ago I ran across the juxtaposition illustrated below which I think properly exemplifies why this argument doesn't hold water. The first photo is of my newest InWindow find, located at 355 Broadway. This Absolute Vodka advertisement not only obscures the windows, but the entire 80 plus foot storefront, including gates and columns. It does a good job of covering what may or may not be a decrepit storefront.

The second image below shows the old Tower Records storefront wrapped in a simple pale blue vinyl sporting the name and number of the Realtor responsible for getting this property back on the market. I would like InWindow to take note of how aesthetics are solved without selling the city to Absolute Vodka or the commercial interests of a few, including InWindow.

355 Broadway

692 Broadway

London Tube in 2050

[Image: "Above Ground" by Nils Norman, commissioned by Platform for Art for Transport for London; view it as a 2.6MB PDF].

A recent post from the BLDG blog was sent my way by a good friend. Seems like Nils Norman created the above poster depicting alternative visions of the London subway system in 2050. The poster was then intermingled with the "...mobile phone advertisements, travel insurance offers, and posters for English-language schools." that normally adorn The Tube. Steve Lambert & Packard Jennings did something very similar in 2007 for San Francisco. Both projects are a wonderful escape from the typical mind altering brand imagery you are normally presented with on your way to work.

InWindow Outdoor Gets in Your Face

Inwindow Outdoor advertising is responsible for the newest and most objectionable form of billboard our metropolitan environment now faces. They run illegal street level signs which occupy the windows and facades of storefronts recently vacated by yet another business failure. We reported on them a while back and now have been given renewed interest by a recent article in the New York Times.

Steve Lambert makes his opinions clear in a letter he just posted on the AAA site. In it he questions the New York Times' reporting strategies, saying "The Times is mistaken in reporting on this as a “thriving” type of advertising emerging from declining economy. Call it what it is, advertisers desperate for profits, committing organized crime, and hurting the livability of our city." I couldn't agree more.

Here is what Inwindow Outdoor has to say about it's activities:

"Own the Streets

Millions of people travel the city streets every day, walking to work, meeting friends or driving home.

At Inwindow Outdoor, we've pioneered an exciting new medium that impacts their everyday lives. Working directly with landlords, we utilize the best retail locations that are currently ‘For Lease’. The result is a highly targeted advertising vehicle which is both colorful and energetic."

NYC interactive

I guess the cat's out of the bag on this one so I might as well post it here too. This interactive piece was done by Joe Bernstien, and Ben Piven on the fine art of Subvertising. In it I install another weaving piece and Steve Lambert gives a brief explanation of his Ad Art Firefox hack. Thanks again to both of those guys for taking interest in our projects.