Despite a conspicuous absence from voter guides, Monty Burns hasn’t given up his mayoral aspirations. The campaign is still hitting the streets, plastering their propaganda over illegal NPA ads in their quest to defeat Mayor Bloomberg’s third-term bid. Being a fabulously wealthy power plant owner, Burns doesn’t have to worry about the $500k illegal poster fines that beleaguer other politicians.
Photo by Will Sherman/ANIMALnewyork
A new video about the New York Street Advertising Takeover offers a concise explanation of the illegal billboard whitewashing project that took place earlier this year. Filmmaker Keith Haskel shadowed organizer Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign to capture the action: whitewashers buffing more than 120 unlawful NPA billboards, artists repurposing the ad space and police carting a few participants off to Central Booking. Read more »
NPA City Outdoor continues flouting rarely enforced laws, stepping up their illegal advertising assault in the Meatpacking District. Luna Park points out the corner of West 13th Street and Washington Street where the unlawful outdoor ad company recently installed one of their newest illegal billboards. The building at 437 West 13th Street has no permits for the illegal ad display. Considering NPA also covered up a mural by Conor Harrington, the location is a good candidate for a street advertising takeover.
Posterchild was in town recently, mocking NPA’s dubious attempts to make their illegal street advertising appear more legal. The Toronto-based street artist replaced one of their advertisements to win some ad posters with his own sign hyping the coming onslaught of “illegal ads and other bullshit you didn’t ask for.” |Public Ad Campaign|
Photo via Public Ad Campaign
Somewhat surprisingly, the Museum of Modern Art backed a recent takeover of illegal outdoor advertising. Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign spotted a group of teenagers with the MoMA Red Studio summer program pasting their artwork over illegal NPA ads on a construction shed in Manhattan. The takeover was conducted with the landlord’s permission, but it’s still shocking since MoMA doesn’t like people messing with public ads, at least not their own. Earlier this year, the museum fired its creative agency, The Happy Corp, after CEO Doug Jaeger hired Posterboy to remix their Atlantic-Pacific Avenue subway station campaign. Still, it’s a great lesson in public space policy for the kids. But MoMA shouldn’t be surprised if the fledgling ad activists take aim at their own use of the marketing medium, especially their wildpostings of questionable legality.
Photos by Public Ad Campaign
Along Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign spotted a couple billboards painted over by RAB that are reminiscent of the New York Street Advertising Takeover. While one of the ads was an illegal NPA billboard, the other is just a handpainted Colosal Media spot for the unpopular “Flydealists Unite” campaign.
Photo by Jordan Seiler
For the first time ever, the Department of Buildings has physically removed an illegal billboard. City Room reports that contractors for the agency tore down a 3-story illegal ad wrapping the historic building at 174 Broadway yesterday. This forcible action comes after more than 100 violations against the building’s owner, 1 Maiden Lane Realty, and the illegal ad installer, OTR Media Group, failed to produce any results. Hopefully this isn’t a one-off attack, but the beginning of a long term assault on advertising companies, including NPA Outdoors, that openly flout the law and litter New York City with unlawful ads.
Photo by Carly Sullivan/NYCDOB
The photos of last month’s New York Street Advertising Takeover do offer some interesting perspectives, but this interactive map really helps convey the project’s scale. Included on the newly public map are photos of the more than 120 illegal billboards that were whitewashed, photos of the artists’ work, some of their stories, and links to video footage. Besides adding to the creative dimension of the project, the map also helps show how rampant illegal and un-permitted NPA billboards are. Even after painting out 19,000 square feet of illegal ads, there were still dozens of illegal ad spots that were untouched. |Public Ad Campaign|
In addition to the one artist that was arrested during the New York Street Advertising Takeover, several other participants were taken into custody: 2 whitewashers and one videographer. Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign writes: Read more »
Over the weekend, we gave you firsthand accounts of the New York Street Advertising Takeover that was responsible for whitewashing 120 illegal billboards that artists then transformed into public canvasses. For many, the photos online are the only way to see the results since NPA employees quickly re-pasted their unlawful posters over the art. Much of the cynical coverage lamented how little time the whitewash and artwork lasted, in most cases less than 24 hours. However, permanency wasn’t the point, after all that’s not the nature of these locations, the wild posting business or street art for that matter. It was to highlight the extent of this illegal advertising and the city’s lack of enforcement. But even worse than listening to these armchair activists over think the action is this woeful speculation on behalf of New York magazine’s Daily Intel:
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