Street Art Used To Be the Voice of the People. Now It’s the Voice of Advertisers.

We know this story but Christine wrote a nice addition to the growing number of articles on the topic.

VIA: In These Times

Los Angeles, a city once known as the mural capital of the world, issued a citywide mural moratorium in 2002 to crack down on the growing issue of outdoor advertising passing as street art. The ban remained in place until a 2013 ordinance overturned it and set down strict new rules prohibiting commercial messages in street murals. 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]

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]

From Graffiti to Advertising: This 7 Train Ad Wrap Represents a Loss of Cultural Identity

Martha Cooper posted this image to her Instagram of a full outer car advertising wrap on the elevated 7 line. The fact that this train runs directly across from the infamous 5 Pointz is not lost on her as she was integral in capturing the birth of Graffiti many years ago, and likely shot similar images of the early greats decorating the outside of NY's subway transit system. The change in content makes me think of BC Biermann's academic paper entitled "The Battle of LA: Graffiti, the Self and the Reappropriation of Semiotic Space" The sad state of our corporatized cities and the loss of cultural identity that comes with it.

Street Advertising Campaign for Spiderman 4

VIA Animal New York

In the most recent trailer for the new Spider-Man movie, there’s one part where the camera pans to a a huge red spider painted on the wall, apparently the web-slinging superhero is now a street artist too, which would probably explain this IRL version spotted in the East Village. This must be part of the studio’s street marketing campaign and a little taste of what you can expect until the film opens on July 3rd. (Photo: ANIMALNewYork)

The Battle of Los Angeles Part II: Graffiti, the Self and the Reappropriation of Semiotic Space

A while back we posted Brett Biermann's paper Battle of LA. While he is still working on the final draft, this second version is clearer and more concise. Mr Biermann's investigations support many of the ideas we live by here at PublicAdCampaign, and to have them laid bare is a pleasure to witness. Brett has been kind enough to share his work with us before it is finished and we in turn are passing this information on to you. Please take the time to read Brett's paper and if you have any serious comments or questions, feel free to write me and I will put you in touch with him directly.

While I could review this paper's contents in this post, quoting interesting passages and giving you a taste of what I find interesting, I would rather concerned parties take the time to read it for themselves. If my glowing endorsement is not enough, maybe this quick description of the papers contents might persuade potentially interested parties to dig further. Enjoy!

In the Battle of LA, Mr Biermann compares commercial outdoor advertising to typical unauthorized urban markmaking, and in doing so shows how each is a form of felony vandalism in Los Angeles. Despite this truth, the lack of enforcement of corporate graffiti and continued persecution of more widely understood markmaking like graffiti, illuminates an underlying tendency by our governments to condone certain forms of public speech as they push a corpo-political regime identified with pro consumerist tendencies and identities. Public space, and outdoor advertisings preeminence in that space, is used to construct this consumerist identity, and promotes a hegemonic society where our shared morality and communal interests are subjugated by the needs of a capitalist regime. While this may be problematic on many levels, Brett proposes that this imposed identity, and the resulting disassociation, can be easily reversed through the reapropriation of outdoor advertising or the very tools used by the corpo-politcal machine to construct the consumer citizen. Through this act of reapropriation, ones place within the larger corpo-political environment becomes clear, freeing one from the system of control and creating individuals with agency outside of their roles as costumer citizens.

Download the full paper [Here]

TIME WARNER STENCILS THE BOWERY

Related to the last post, does it bother you that Time Warner cannot face penalty for this recent corporate graffiti campaign. If The DOB sign enforcement unit can figure out who was responsible for the execution, they might face a small fine. Does it bother you that the people who stenciled these were probably local artists who had worked on the street and were willing to face arrest for the 300 or so dollars a night? Does it also bother you that these individuals might face serious jail time if they were caught doing their own work? It does me.

VIA Animal NY

Time Warner stenciled their branding up the Ave from the New Museum on Bowery (and elsewhere) to promote some invite-only party they’re throwing tonight for a launch of their fancy, pricey “signature” package of cable services. Appropriately, the stencils are outside of Whole Foods, marketing directly to the sort of people who pay too much for cheese.