600 climate change ad takeovers blanket Paris

Paul Insect
Paul Insect

This past Friday in Paris, over 600 posters by more than 80 artists and designers were installed in bus shelters managed by JCDecaux. The posters were installed on the occasion of the COP21 conference on climate change, which starts today. Participants in the campaign include Barnbrook, Bill Posters, Fra.Biancoshock, Jon Burgerman, Listen04, Paul Insect, Revolt Design, Stanley Donwood, Unga, and many more.

Seeing as JCDecaux is an official sponsor of the COP21 conference, it makes sense that they would open up their bus shelters to messages about climate change. Of course, that’s not what happened. This was an unauthorized action, a mass ad-takeover organized by Brandalism, who say that the posters “highlight the links between advertising, consumerism, fossil fuel dependency and climate change.”

Here’s a video of the action:

And of course, more posters:

Fra.Biancoshok
Fra.Biancoshok
Barnbrook
Barnbrook

Continue reading “600 climate change ad takeovers blanket Paris”

Brandalism returns to the UK

Anthony Lister and John Fekner
Anthony Lister and John Fekner in London

About two years ago, a group got together to take over about 50 billboards throughout the UK in the course of a few days. It was the Brandalism project. And they are back. Last month, Brandalism brought together the work of 40 artists, including a few very big names, to replace 365 bus-shelter ads in 10 UK cities. The results are beautiful and impressive. Here are a few of my favorites (okay, it’s a lot, because there’s a lot of great work in this project):

Escif in London
Escif in London
Cleon Peterson in Leeds
Cleon Peterson in Leeds

Continue reading “Brandalism returns to the UK”

Weekend link-o-rama

1010 and Other aka Troy Lovegates

Had about 4 days away from a computer and it’s taken me nearly as long to catch up on emails. This post should help to finish that task. Here’s what I missed while I was away:

Photo by Other

Lazarides back at The Old Vic Tunnels for The Minotaur

Conor Harrington at Hell's Half Acre

Lazarides are headed back to The Old Vic Tunnels off of Leake Street in London, the site of last year’s Hell’s Half Acre show and Banksy’s launch for Exit Through the Gift Shop. If you thought Hell’s Half Acre was a bit of a posh haunted house, you ain’t seen nothing yet. From October 10th through November 4th, Lazarides are turning the tunnels into an art exhibition space, but also a Michelin Star pop-up restaurant. The show is called The Minotaur, after the Greek legend. The absurdity of the whole thing leaves me speechless. As for the art, there will be a labyrinth-esque installation with new work from a number of artists including Conor Harrington, Stanley Donwood, 3D and Lucy McLauchlan. Unfortunately, it will cost £5 to get in if you aren’t under 18. Entry is free to some, but by some I mean it’s free if you’re eating at the restaurant for £65 a head, haha. On the plus side, there’s a bar, so you’ll be able to drink away the pain of having spent £65 to eat in a dilapidated storage room.

I dunno. Maybe this will be fun and full of amazing artwork and food. It probably will be enjoyable for the select few who get to experience it, but The Minotaur still strikes me as absurd and way over-the-top. Kind of like a real minotaur.

Photo by IanVisits