The other day, Gaia posted about Toronto Street Advertising Takever (TOSAT). Because this is such a cool project and I have a lot of respect for PublicAdCampaign, the event organizer, I wanted to just post a view more photos from TOSAT. For more about what exact TOSAT is, check Gaia’s post.
Jordan Seiler, organizer of the infamous NYSAT and bane to the advertising world, has just released the site to TOSAT, the Toronto Street Advertising Takeover Project. Attacking both street level back lit sites and elevated billboards, the project included more than 60 international artists whose work replaced over 90 ads. As always, these projects that Jordan has conducted are an important marriage between formal aspects of street art and activism. To learn more check out the website: http://www.publicadcampaign.com/tosat/
The Project description is as follows “With over half the worlds population now living in cities, our public spaces are playing an ever important role in the construction of our collective social identity. Outdoor advertising, with an interest in widely disseminating commercial ideals is finding its way deeper and deeper into these environments. While it is understood that commercial messages do not share our collective interests, we still do not question its use of our shared environments. In an effort to invigorate debate about how commercial interests are using public space and raise questions about how our communities desire to use those same spaces, non-violent civil disobedience projects like TOSAT engage the public in a dialogue of participation.”
“The TOSAT project is the most recent street advertising takeover project executed by PublicAdCampaign in Toronto. With over 60 artists and an international roster of contributors, this project provides a model for continued takeovers around the world. With each new city, a new set of on the ground collaborators will be necessary and many thanks must go out to PosterChild, Sean Martindale, and the DuSpa collective in Toronto for their unwavering support. As well these projects could not take place without the continued support of all the artists involved and we extend our deepest gratitude to all of those participants.”
Been in NYC for the last few days. Besides being busy, it seems like the hotel I was at still hadn’t quite figured out the concept of wifi extending to all rooms in the hotel… So now I’ve got a lot of stories to post about. Here’s what I missed while I was away, though you may have read about it elsewhere:
I’ve actually been meaning to post about this for a while. Ken Harman from Arrested Motion and the Hi-Fructose Blog, just curated one of the better group shows I’ve seen. Some artists of particular note would be Emory Douglas (a major influence on Shepard Fairey and important propaganda-maker in his own right), Dabs, Myla, Mike Shine and Monica Canilao. A Decade With No Name is open on Saturdays and Sundays through September 12th at 54 Washington St. Oakland, CA. My Love For You Is A Stampede of Horses has photos of Monica’s installation, and Spoke has photos of everything else and is where you can purchase the artwork.
Papergirl NY is bringing Germany’s Papergirl concept to the USA. Basically, artists get together to distribute a bunch of free art to members of the public by riding around on bikes. Their YouTube video shows what happens in a bit more detail. Papergirl NY events are taking place in New York City this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday they will be at the DUMBO Arts Center, and then Papergirl will move to The Armory where you can find them Friday through Sunday.
Mobstr hasn’t been around forever, but his humor can already rival Banksy.
Blu and Ericailcane are in Stavanger for Nuart, and their wall is one of Blu’s boldest political statements yet (after all, Stavanger is an oil-funded city, and oil money from taxes pretty much funds Nuart). Nice stuff.
Manhattan’s Leo Kesting Gallery has a group show opening next week with some of my favorite emerging artists. Dead Letter Playground: A Collection of Contemporary Street Art opens June 24th (from 7pm-10pm) and has artwork from Carolyn A’Hearn, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Dain, DickChicken, Doze Green, Elbowtoe, Elle, Ellis G, Faro, Gaia, Head Hoods, Imminent Disaster, Jen.Lu, Jordan Seiler, Know Hope, Laura Meyers, Lee Trice, Love Me, Matt Siren, Mister Never, Nicola Verlato, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Phil Lumbang, Shark Toof, Anthony Michael Sneed and Sweet Toof. Of course, the show also includes one of my least favorite artists, DickChicken, but nobody’s perfect (ps, because I know that somebody is going to give me shit for that comment, I’d like to clarify: I actually don’t mind DickChicken’s tag or find it offensive or anything. I just don’t think he makes anything remotely interesting indoors). The show runs through July 18th.
Here’s some of the work that will be at Dead Letter Playground:
Last weekend, 120 illegal street advertisements throughout New York City were covered up by art. The whole project was orchestrated by Jordan Seiler at Public Ad Campaign. He got a large group of artists and volunteers to cover a few of the many illegal outdoor advertisements on New York streets first with a layer of white, and then with artwork. Participating artists included Rachel Lowing and Gaia, Tristan Eaton, Ji Lee (of The Bubble Project), Enjoy Banking, Peru Ana Ana Peru, and many many more. Unfortunately, Jake Dobkin reports that all of these interventions seem to have been taken down (of course, I suppose that was sort of the point. At least it gets rid of the illegal ads. The Capital G project worked the same way. A week later, not only was Captial G gone, but so were those flyposted ads.). Here are a few images that have been popping up online: