The Empty-Project Keeps the Conversation Going in Madrid

Pedro Sega sent over this little blurb about The Empty-Project, a series of ongoing ad takeovers on the streets of Madrid. What I love about The Empty-Project is that it is an ongoing conversation that anyone can get involved in just by contacting the organizers. The text below is a brutal Google translation from the original Spanish text. I would suggest visiting the Empty-Project website [HERE]

VIA: Le Cool

Despite its name, Empty Project is a project all but empty. This name, however, serves to bring together, under one umbrella, a series of ephemeral interventions by different public spaces in Madrid. They collaborate artists related to urban art, illustration, photography, music and poetry and all of them are worth the paper as support for expressing any criticism. The project began in February with the interventions of artist Pedro Sega (which made ​​the cover of our newsletter a few months ago) in four shelters in central Madrid and the idea is to continue to live on the proposals to be them coming from now. If you are an artist or you're not but you have a protest proposal you'd like to see exposed in the streets of Madrid, do not hesitate to write to team Empty Project, which will be responsible for carrying out the most transgressive. Untranslated original [HERE]

FOLKE KOEBBERLING / MARTIN KALTWASSER - Haltestelle/Stop 2009

A disused bus shelter from Linz Transport was put up at one of the busy bridge heads of Nibelungenbrücke. Inspired by east European models, we turned the shelter into an informal billboard to advertise the project 52 Ways to Change the World. This introduced winning ideas on how to make the world a better place, drawn from an international competition. The shelter also provided extra space for the general public in Linz to post their own messages and use the shelter as an information exchange. In Eastern Europe, bus shelters often served as informal information exchanges during socialist times, a function that is now disappearing. This is due to the fact that bus shelters have become an integral part of privatized city marketing efforts, barring anyone who is not paying from using potential urban public visual communications platforms. Any informal transgression that makes bus shelters less dreary is removed within twenty-four hours. The location for our shelter was one of the most prominent A1 positions in Linz, where advertising would be most lucrative. With this shelter we were paying tribute to unfettered informal urban com-munication for fifty-two weeks. More [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...

When the Ads Cease to Exist, the Community Fills in the Blanks

PublicAdCampaign readers will know that one of my issues with outdoor advertising is that it monopolizes public space as it engulfs ever more territory in an effort to become the predominant message in our public environment. This quest for more and more real estate not only overwhelms our visual environment but places a high value on the walls of our city by monetizing each surface with a potential for ad revenue. The result is a lack of public usage of public space in what becomes a thoroughly commercial environment. 

The series of three images presented in this post serve as a nice example of what we might come to expect if we remove the ever present billboard image and think of how we might like to collectively curate the spaces that we share. (While I am obviously a fan of public murals, I would also like to say that it is my hope that we think of public curation in much broader terms than the mural and use our shared public walls to adress all forms of community needs, including the artistic.)

Illegal NPA street level billboard 2009

 Illegal billboard removal 01-12

Current image as of 05-17-13

Konbit Shelter: Sustainable building in rural Haiti

I dont usually post things which are not related to advertising and art in public space but on this christmas eve I am making an exception. The Konbit shelter project is a sustainable building project that Calledonia Curry, aka Swoon, began after the devastating earthquake in 2010. The crew is going back to continue their work and are running a kickstarter campaign to fund it. Callie is one of the most interesting and wonderful people I have had the pleasure to meet and her dedication to community building and outreach is unparalleled. If you have any money to give this holiday season, please consider donating to the Konbit Shelter project. I can promise you it will be money well spent. Please donate [HERE]

Wellington Court Mural Project 2011

Just got home from 7 hours of painting at AdHoc's Wellington Court Mural project. It was my first time painting outside of the studio and I must say I truly enjoyed it. Being my first time I opted for a covert spot down some alleyway which is why I don't have a straight on shot. Enjoy!

PaperGirl NewsPaper-In A City-In Einer Stadt

A while back I was asked to write something for the PaperGirl Newspaper being printed in Germany in conjunction with the PaperGirl "community project" for lack of a better description. Long story short, the Papergirl project takes donated artworks and gifts them to the public by biking around the city in mass offerings. Visit their website for more information about the project, its motivations, and where it is going in the future. The Newspaper, was an extension of the PaperGirl project and included musings on public space, artist interviews, thoughts on the act of giving, and many other notable topics. It is a small art piece in and of itself and a reflection of the much larger goals behind a focused public intervention. Below is the text I wrote, which was translated into German for the final paper printing.

In a city, any city, our city, this city, my city, your city, things are new to you and me. It’s only been a short while since we have piled upon one another in these tiny boxes we call homes, apartments with numbers to distinguish where we are from. Once we spread out with great distances between us and called ourselves by different names. Now our hearts and our emotions pile high on top of one another in separate spaces we establish for our separate lives. And yet in our isolation we are anything but alone. In a city our lives are built in the streets, built upon the interactions outside where we see the neighbor next door, the corner shop, the mom and pop, that person we ignore. It’s when we leave these boxes and step outside into the daylight we tend to meet the people we might otherwise have forgotten in our isolation. This is where we create a city, define our collective identity and negotiate our common interests. When we lay quietly in our bedrooms it’s hard to imagine we live amidst a crowd, yet if the walls were broken down, we would see each other every time we had a thought. Outside there are no walls, and hearts and thoughts collide as our voices and bodies create any city, our city, this city, my city, your city.

And isn’t this fantastic, this life that’s built up a mile high, made of people tossed on top of one another. At home we may be different but when we venture from our isolation we suddenly become Berlin, New York, Miami or Madrid. A mess of emotion crowded so tightly that what this city is, is everything we share together. And when we are alone in our tiny little boxes it really doesn’t matter who we are to the city that were from. It is only when we wander to the streets that together our voices create the city that we live in. So you may decorate your four walls with pictures of kings, or paint them white and let the emptiness be your company. Either way it doesn’t really matter to the rest of us. Inside you don’t exist. Outside you are potentially profound.

Have you ever had a conversation with a stranger and they said something you had never heard before from anyone you ever knew because this person didn’t know better than to say what no one ever thought to say? This is the benefit of a life spent amongst the living, all the people that surround you when you wander out the door. In fact it doesn’t have to a be a stranger but a wall on which they left their mark that alters how you see the world and changes everything. These written words or images are left for you and I to find as we traverse this concrete playground. Where inside your voice falls on deaf ears, outside it carries far and wide as people take your thoughts and pass them along like embers carried, burning hot, waiting to ignite the next fire that we gather round. Yet maybe you do not care to speak and instead you find yourself alone on a bench reading letters written to you by someone who isn’t there. Even in this state of silence it would be difficult to ignore the eyes that fall upon you or the sounds of feet shuffling by, reminding you that you are not alone. On a busy city street you can stand alone, quietly, and would never forget where you are, in a city, any city, our city, this city, my city, your city.

It is in fact these conversations, moments and interactions make you feel at home, remind you where you are. And then the rains may come. First they start slowly as clouds gathering high above the buildings. The sun may go but we continue our conversations, buttoning jackets and donning scarves to keep the chill from moving us towards isolation. The roar of voices is directly proportional to the frequency of the rains falling from the sky. The letters you were reading might need protection and the city looses one more person while umbrellas allow a remaining few to occupy the streets. Tucked in doorways, strangers have their final say and leave you with racing thoughts, ideas you need to contemplate. And then the rains come harder. Rivers grow on sidewalks draining into lakes making street crossings difficult and navigation labored. Lightning may strike and punctuate the emptiness. The crack of sound alerting you that no one is around. And suddenly you may realize you are not anywhere. The rain so hard it washed away the writing on the walls, drove away the strangers and left you on a sidewalk in city you don’t recognize. The silence is like darkness, the lack of conversation like a veil that shrouds your vision; with no sounds this city could be any city, your city, my city, someone else’s city.

And if you decide to be brave, to sit under the clouds and wait till the water stops to flow, you may find the strangers coming back into the streets. The first may only stay a minute, moving quickly for a destination. Without a voice to make a thought this figure only suggests the place that you are in. But then a newspaper is spread over a wet bench and suddenly there is another, permanent for now, stealing glances while letters are read written by someone who is not there. And then a conversation begins, faint at first but growing in intensity. An argument is made for statements made between strangers and out of nowhere you begin to see the contours of a place. Doors open as the tiny boxes that keep us quietly tucked away empty into the streets. What texts and images were washed clean are penned again onto the walls. The clouds have lifted and the roar of conversation takes its rightful place. And everywhere you look, suddenly as if by magic you realize you are in a city, any city, our city, this city, my city, your city.

TOSAT-Website Up and General Thoughts

It has been a week since the TOSAT project happened, the website is up, and I figure it time to write my thoughts on the whole thing. First off, this was really a test to see if something of this scale could be done in a city away from home, and the result is a resounding yes. While things went smoothly-no arrests and a one hundred percent success rate in getting work up-it became abundantly clear that this would not have happened without the incredible help of several individuals who did all of the initial groundwork months before the action went down. They are in no particular order, PosterChild, Sean Martindale, Martin Reis, and Vanessa at the DuSpa Collective. As well, without the 60 plus artists that donated work for this production, TOSAT would not have happened. I want to make it clear that submitting work for this project is an act of beneficent citizenship and all of the participants should be commended for supporting this type of action which does more for the city of Toronto than it does for any personal interests they might have.

That said, planning for this Toronto action began with the last NYSAT project. Upon completion in NY, I was immediately interested in taking this model to other cities. I was duly impressed with the Toronto contingent of NYSAT which took a 13 hour bus ride all the way to NY to be a part of the action. Surely if they were willing to make that trek, their dedication to this kind of public space reform was profound, and they could be counted on to take the planning of TOSAT seriously. After many email communications it was decided that Pattison's Core Media Pillars would provide the right venue for a submission based project. Standard sizes and a dense network in Toronto's downtown core made them a perfect target. Martin Reis took the bull by the horns and went out to photograph every location he could find, giving us a detailed map from which to plan both the numbers of pieces we could handle, as well as how our teams could most efficiently hit a large number of locations in the shortest amount of time.

Next an email went out to our mailing list and we quickly reached 85 artists who were willing to submit work for TOSAT. This list included artists and activists alike, but partially because of the submission based aspect of the project, it seemed many more street artists and gallery artists were sending work. I was extremely happy about this fact for a number of reasons. For one it meant that the project was growing and interest was expanding beyond the hard core public space activists. It also meant that the "quality" (for lack of a better word) of the submissions would be raised. While these street advertising projects are about creating a large enough event that the public begins to questions advertising's use of public space, often critics will harp on the fact that much of the work is less than MoMA quality. Of course these critics fail to acknowledge that many of these works are either done under extreme time constraints and risk of arrest, or that artists are unwilling to polish a work knowing that the piece will quickly be removed, likely ending up in the garbage. Either way, the easier submissions are to look at, the less ammo the critics have and that can only help our cause.

While much of the project was planned before hand, I arrived in Toronto a week before the action to take care of final issues. My first task was to collect the works which had been trickling into Toronto over the last month. After counting the packages that had been received, there were only 45 artists who had sent in work, totaling only 70 some pieces. While I was under the expectation we would have 85 participants, I was obviously worried that the project would not have the support it needed to create a serious reaction. I sent out an email to those whose work I had not received to figure out what was going on. Responses varied and included some whose work had been returned because of customs fees which our receiver could not afford to pay (something we have learned can be escaped by warning participants to declare their works value to be less than 20 dollars) others had tracked packages which were still en route having been held up by customs or other delivery issues, and lastly about 15 artists had just plain flaked out. While the last response is typical of a project like this, it is also very difficult to deal with as the scope of the project and planning done before hand is dependent on people coming through on their obligations. In the end everything worked out and much of the work which was on its way when I first counted arrived without incident.

Now knowing exactly how much work we were in possession of, the serious planning could take place. I sat down with Vanessa and figured out just how many installers/activists we would need. DuSpa, being a collective that includes an incredible roster of progressive and caring individuals came through in spades, providing 16 participants to install the daytime pillar action and a similar number for the night time billboard action. It was decided that the "Ground" teams (handling the pillar locations) would depart at 5pm to insure daylight protest aspects of the project as well as insure photographs could be taken after installation in the event that the works were removed the next morning. The "Sky" teams would install under the cover of darkness, leaving our hideout at midnight with the expectation of a 4am return.

As we gathered at 3pm on Sunday, the day of the project, it was still pouring rain outside. Journalists, videographers and installers waited impatiently knowing installation could not begin until the rain stopped as many of the pieces were done on paper. Meanwhile, time was passed going over legal issues, briefing installers on how to enter the pillars and generally milling about anxiously. By 4pm the rain had stopped and by five it looked like the night would stay clear. We set out in six teams to blanket 41 pillars in less than 2 hours. While the first aspect of the project took place with little incident, it should be noted that initial scouting had turned up locations that had subsequently been removed by the time our action took place and some quick thinking was done by teams who found a few locations no longer existed. Again these issues will be dealt with in the next projects.

After removing over 160 ads, leaving PSA's in place, and installing over 90 pieces of artwork, participants returned exuberant and ready for the Sky team action. This aspect of the project was broken down into two teams. One containing the DuSpa contingent and the other Posterchild, Sean Martindale and myself. Each of our objectives was to whitewash 10 billboards in downtown Toronto, add some "art" and return home safely. While I was not on the DuSpa side of things I cannot attest to the ease of their outing but our team ran into no trouble at all. We painted out advertising with impunity for 3 hours in front of pedestrians, night shift workers, and transit employees until the very end. At our last location, ecstatic at our progress, we decided to end with a few photo ops. Having successfully painted the date of the project and a total of nine billboards we began to pack our truck.

Out of the corner of my eye, as I peeled a Pattison sticker from the side of our vehicle, I saw flashing lights. Knowing the police would box us in I continued at my task. Once they had pulled in behind our truck, they exited the car. At this point I looked over and said hello. The officer driving asked me to come over to him which I was already in the process of doing, saying something to the affect of "How you doing tonight?" He then looked me up and down, most likely because I was covered head to toe in paint drippings, and asked "Did you paint that billboard?" referring to the billboard painted with a giant 20 not 30 feet from our truck. Knowing I could not say no believably, I nonchalantly answered "Yes." He followed "You work for Pattison?" My truck said Pattison on the side so my only answer was again "Yes." He then looked me up and down slowly, I assume trying to find a reason to doubt me at which point he asked again quizzically. "You work for Patisson?" He clearly was not sure if he should believe me. It was at this point that I stupidly or maybe smartly responded, "Yeah we are just wrapping up our night, did a few of these in the neighborhood."

I do not suggest ever giving cops any more information than they ask for but in this situation it seemed to work in my favor. I seemed to truly believe that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing and I think it rubbed off. Without any hesitation I had told him what he didn't expect to hear, and offered more information unsolicited. It was too real and he motioned to his partner to get back in the car. Their engine started and they quickly left. Needless to say we jumped in the back of our vehicle and drove as far away from that area as we could, returning to our hideout around 4am.

All in all the project was a complete success and I hope everyone involved felt the same way. The media in Toronto reported about the project widely and we hope that some of the issues that Torontonian's wanted raised will be reinvigorated by this action. Mainly, how the billboard by-law will play out in the coming months. Working in another city was a definite challenge. My tendencies to over control everything had to be let go and I was happily surprised with the results the true magicians behind this project ended up pulling off. While there are small details which will help us plan other cities more thoroughly, prevent us from loosing work, dropping participants, live mapping locations, etc. it was all about having a network of people in place willing to do some serious work. As much as we talk about the public space/anti-advertising activism world growing, this was truly an example of an international effort. Many of the participants had never met one another and had come together on faith and only our principles as common ground. Indeed a community of people exists floating around this type of activism and when that community hits, more people are brought into the fold, or at least into the conversation.

While this may be only a small step or too much work for so little return, I continue to believe that these projects are an important marriage of the art and activist world. With over half the world's population now residing in major metropolitan cities, the means of representation are becoming an ever important issue for our public spaces. If we let this issue go and do nothing about it we may find ourselves living in environments in which we have no say at all, where the normal array of visual elements becomes so privatized that questioning it may not even be a question at all. In fact we might already be there. If we choose to disobey current property laws and throw into question current tendencies to monetize and thus privatize our public experiences, we might just find our public spaces are missing a public element they might desperately need. And if this is a wild goose chase, citizens barking up the wrong tree in an effort to gain a better understanding of their relationship to their public environment and thus the society around them, then what have we lost?

In the end all the citizens of our cities have only to gain from non-violent civil disobedience like this. Ad revenues are quickly absorbed into multi-billion dollar budgets and our cities, if only for a moment, question something they pay little attention to otherwise. If anything these moments of contemplation are enough for me to continue forward but ultimately one would hope that opinions will begin to develop, seeds of ideas which will slowly alter the way we think about our public spaces, the people around us and the cities we want to live in.

more info at: www.publicadcampaign.com/tosat

NPA and the NYSAT Ramifications

So I have been on a crazy long photo job that stole a week of my life, which is why I have not posted in a while. There are so many posts that I have waiting. I'm sorry. That said, I just spoke with one of the organizers of the Living Walls conference coming up in Atlanta. She has been in conversation with one of the NPA employees from Atlanta and they are worried about PublicAdCampaign coming into town in August. I told her that I thought it would be a good idea to invite NPA to speak at the conference as dialogue and conversation is the most important aspect of the PAC project. I truly hope that we get a chance to have a discussion with NPA, the employees, or anyone involved in the wildposting of commercial messages in relation to street art and open public communication. Ever since we launched the NYSAT project, I have been interested in what our influence has been, and I think this is a real opportunity to delve into what a direct action community project can do.

I look forward to talking with employees of NPA in Atlanta and having a serious open discussion about how their actions might affect the community at large. Look out for more details as things unfold.

Parisians Takeover Metro Station for Upcoming Elections

All photos: Sean Hicks

New public protests in Paris takover the Strasbourg Saint-Denis Metro station for the upcoming elections. [More Here]

GVSHP Gets Serious About Illegal Signage at Greenwich and 12th Street

We just got an email from Andrew Berman at the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation regarding the illegal Equinox signage at Greenwich Ave. & 12th street. As it explains very thoroughly what has been done to remove the illegal signage, I will copy it below verbatim. Amongst other things the GVSHP polices advertising and signage infractions within their community and has a great track record for making things happen. It seems from this email that the ball is rolling and that this illegal sign will likely come down quickly.

Dear friend,

I wanted to let you know that we have just been informed that the Department of Buildings today issued 13 violations to Equinox for their billboards at Greenwich Avenue and 12th Street. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has also issued them a warning letter, which can be found at PDF.

As you know, we have been pushing the city to issue strong violations against Equinox as soon as possible, to force them to remove the signage. We will continue to push both the city and Equinox until the illegal signage is removed.

Toward that end, please see the article about these efforts in today's Villager newspaper and look for a report on tonight's NY1 news.

Thank you for all your help with this matter. We will continue to keep you informed on our progress in pursuing these billboards' removal.

What is amazing to me is that a single sign like this can cause such outrage because of its high profile nature while an entire company like Contest Promotions or NPA can go completely unaffected, operating over 500 illegal signs around the city of which I have mapped over 180. Not only have we mapped these locations but we have given them to the GVSHP and the DOB. On top of this we have gathered in mass on two occasions to take back these spaces for public use and 9 of us have been arrested. The result of all this has been a resounding quiet to say the least, although we have had a lot of fun.

At first glance it would seem that the public is less concerned about the smaller less obtrusive signage pictured above and run illegally by NPA. Rather I think we have become so accustomed to these smaller signs that we cannot imagine they are actually illegal. In fact I think unless something glares so brightly that you cannot not notice it, most of us spend little time assessing the quality of our city streets and realizing that we have some level of control over those spaces. This knowledge is not only fantastic on the individual level, but collectively if we question and take responsibility for our public spaces we become very invested in our neighborhoods and communities.

Unsanctioned Gym Billboard Sparks Outrage In West Village

It's great to see people up in arms about commercial signage appropriating public spaces but this one, despite not being properly permitted, is still a first party sign. I would hope that this outrage will continue as we see other illegal signs enter our neighborhoods on illegal walls and rolldown gates toting signage that has nothing to do with the business or building it is adhered to.

VIA Gothamist
We've spent a good chunk of time writing about illegal advertisements, but few have been as large — or caused as much fury — as this billboard in the West Village. Ever since the Equinox Health Club wrapped its Greenwich Avenue building with seemingly illegal ads, preservationists have been up in arms, according to Curbed. [MORE]

Building Community, American Eagle VS JR

Today American Eagle Outfitters announced its plan to put your face on a 25 story digital billboard in Times Square, provided you buy something of course. Especially because this is in Times Square, I'm not all that opposed to this marketing ploy. After all it does present residents (tourists) with an opportunity to imagine a world where their faces and ideas become a part of the visual landscape, an alternative to outdoor advertising we at PublicAdCampaign champion.

I couldn't help but think of JR's work in Brazil as a similar and yet incomparably different version of this recent American Eagle stunt. JR is known for going into communities and photographing the residents, blowing those images up to incredible dimensions and then applying them to the city structure.

Both projects present the public back to itself but there are many differences between the two. The monetary incentives, nature of the subjects, location of project, are three of the more obvious, but I think there is one difference that is less noticeable, and yet incredibly important. This is the relationships that the people who interact with these two different projects develop. The American Eagle project leaves the participant and the producer separate, isolated and disjointed. You get 15 seconds of fame, American Eagle capitalizes on all the friends you have that will talk about American Eagle through your appearance. There is no lasting relationship developed in an exchange where the two parties intend to take something away from the interaction.

JR's work is exactly the opposite. No one takes anything concrete away from the interactions between artist and subject in JR's large scale projects except a lasting connection and real relationship. The images, taken by JR, are returned to the community in the form of artwork. The initial gift by the subject, allowing themselves to be pictured by the artist, is returned to the subject as a lasting image of themselves in their community which announces their humanity and presence in the world. An exchange of this nature actually builds, gives life to new community.

The difference between the two then is not so much monetary, but in their ability to alter the community positively by causing real social interaction which turns into lasting relationships. You can be sure both JR, and the lives of his subjects were significantly altered by these projects and that a continued mutual respect will pervade any further interactions. You can also be sure American Eagle, and the consumers using their purchase to buy time on a big screen have developed nothing, and in fact stolen from each other for personal gain. Each participant in this case moving away from the point of interaction with no sense of community and no lasting attachment to one another. Such is the difference between commercial interactions and community interactions in a public environment.

Judge Says 2006 Lawsuit Settlement Allowing Digital Billboards in L.A. is Illegal, Calls Agreement Between City and Billboard Companies “Poison”

Via Ban Billboard Blight

Superior Court Judge Terry Green ruled today that the lawsuit settlement giving Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor the right to convert 840 conventional billboards to digital violated the law by exempting those conversions from any zoning regulations or requirements for notice and public hearings. [More Here]

The Greenwich Village Society For Historical Preservation

A good friend and reader of PublicAdCampaign recently made me aware of The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation which has been taking action against illegal signage with much recent success. Their Mission states...

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation was founded in 1980 to preserve the architectural heritage and cultural history of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. GVSHP is a leader in protecting the sense of place and human scale that define the Village’s unique community.

Our programs include: Educational outreach in the form of public lectures, tours, exhibitions, and publications; A school program that teaches children about Greenwich Village history and architecture; Preservation leadership on such issues as preservation of the South Village; Preservation projects that promote an understanding of the Village’s historic importance, such as the Greenwich Village Preservation Archive and Oral History Project; Consultation services on a wide variety of preservation issues, with GVSHP serving the community as historian, educator, archival resource, and technical consultant.

I have contacted them in hopes our extensive maps of illegal NPA signage might be of use to them in their fight to retain neighborhood identity and hold off the encroachment of illegal signage and unwanted commercial messages.

Conor Harrington Buffed

I just received an email from two readers, Luna Park and Allan Molho. Both directed me to the below image on amolho4's Flikr page. This illegal NPA City Outdoor advertisement must have been recently put in place as it is sitting directly on top of an incredible piece by Conor Harrington. (also pictured) I am so upset about this I am not exactly sure how to respond. Not only does NPA operate over 500 illegal street level billboards in the city but they are covering the little public art we have in this city with their filth. The audaciousness and irreverence of NPA has made me angry before. Something will be done.

Image Courtesy of Sabeth718 13th street and Washington (before)

Image Courtesy of Allan Molho 13th street and Washington (after)

A Night On The Town With NY Ghost

I met up with NY Ghost for the first time last Saturday. We walked around putting up posters for about 3 hours before we went our separate ways. These days I don't normally have a partner so it was nice for both of us to have a lookout and company. Our conversation mostly circled outdoor advertising and the city as a whole. It was wonderful to entertain a relationship built on a shared public experience. I highly suggest it.

This image is from a series I am starting called "National Bestseller". I use the every page from a popular title to make a single sheet that fills a phonebooth advertisement. Because the materials are so cheap, this project is about numbers. For every page you see that has red in it, there are 9 others out there that were put up without the red addition. Go out and get learned people!


This image was produced by NY Ghost and was placed at 14th street and 1st avenue on the NWC. It was a brazen spot considering there were police officers directly across the street but nonetheless proved accessible. This is the first image of NY Ghost's that really cathces my eye and I hope he keeps up the good work.

Abandoned 7th Ave. building bane of neighbors’ block

A recent article in Chelsea Now bemoans the dilapidated building at 210 7th avenue. Since the building went vacant in 2002, complaints have included the illegal advertising that has adorned the building for as long as I can remember. Reporter Sheila McClear writes "But even the ads, the only bright spot on the otherwise derelict property, may be illegal." A simple jaunt to the Department of Buildings website clearly shows this address has no permits which would allow outdoor advertising. In fact the advertising itself might be the very thing that is keeping this building derelict. In the article the Deborah Fenker, speaking of the landlord, is quoted as saying, 'He told me that he got good money for having those ads up in the windows,'. If this building wasn't pulling in revenue from advertising there is a strong chance the landlord would take the initiative to rent the ground floor, which would then require the other maintenance that is drawing so many complaints from local residents.

This makes me think of the conversation I had with the CEO of InWindow, Steve Birnhak. One of his justifications for operating his illegal advertising business was that his ads hide unsightly closed storefront conditions. In this way he suggested his advertisements actually helped fight of the broken window theory from coming to fruition, preventing neighborhoods from slipping into states of decline. It would seem from this article and the conditions at 210 7th avenue, that these streetscape ads might also make it easier for landlords to neglect their properties, actually facilitating neighborhood decline.

All are welcome to express themselves in the box below

This is an interesting way for private landlords and shop owners to allow, and at the same time control, graffiti and public use of our shared public walls. Not only does a gesture like this garner respect from local artists for the wall they are painting and thus the individual behind it, but it creates an environment where public use of public space is acceptable despite local laws prohibiting this kind of activity.

VIA Boing Boing

Gama-Go's Greg Long just snapped this photo of a roll-up door in San Francisco. Click the image to see it larger. Here's what's written on the door above and below the graffiti:

"All are welcome to express themselves in the box below."

"Painting within the above box is hereby expressly permitted and shall not be considered "graffiti" in accordance with article #23 of the San Francisco Municipal Code."

Gregory Snyder-Graffiti Lives

On the first page of Graffiti Lives-Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground, Gregory Snyder articulates why I think public interaction with the visual environment is such an important public health issue. It not only engages those individuals who physically alter the space they live in, but also those who consume that alteration (happily or not), creating a participatory interaction in public space. This is by no means a small achievement and one of the achievements of a properly functioning city and residency.

He writes, "I lived in New York for three years, but suddenly I was in an entirely different city; it felt like the walls around me had burst to life. I began to explore my city looking at graffiti, and this gave me a greater appreciation of the diversity of its architecture and it's people. I learned to take photographs, improved my penmanship, and got into lots of fascinating conversations."

Somewhat related, later in the book he writes, "Graffiti writing incites stories, and the desire to write graffiti in part comes from the need to be part of the story." "Stories are an essential part of city life, and the way that graffiti animates spaces is an enjoyable, fascinating aspect of the urban experience. French architecture critic Michele de Certeau agrees with this notion, arguing that graffiti is in line with a collection of urban activities in which we make our own stories and produce the memories that make space habitable. This lived space is the space of everyday experience, in contrast to the planned, ordered city that seeks to impose a metanarrative on space. This may be more than just enjoyement; the author of the reknowned Marxist text The Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre, believes that transforming space in this fashion is potentialy radical, and that the reevaluation of space is as critical to social change as economic and political restructuring."