Dedicated to critical cultural production at the intersection of art and activism.

We cover artists from around the globe whose work explores and realizes social change. Our goal is to provide a narrative about these activist efforts while simultaneously participating in them. Maintained by The Groundswell Collective since 2007.

Artists Strike Back! The New York Street Advertising Takeover (NYSAT)/Municipal Landscape Control Committee

James David Morgan wrote this post at 2:43 pm on April 29th, 2009.

UPDATE: It seems our friend Josh from Just Seeds was also a participant.  If you know of other artists involved, please let us know in the comment section!

PublicAdCampaign.com‘s Jordan Seiler recounted the events of April 25th, 2009, with just a few words: “Something happened yesterday, an eye for an eye…”

The New York Street Advertising Takeover (NYSAT) organized approximately 80 artists and other participants to whitewash 120 billboards that operate illegally in New York, which they used as canvasses.  Attached to each billboard was a fake warning note, shown here, that declared NYC’s Department of Buildings had deemed the billboards illegal, and scheduled the whitewashing.  Real Municipal Landscape Control Committee contacts were used.

Four arrests followed from this act of civil disobedience cum vigilante justice: 2 whitewashers, one artist, and one videographer. The charges of criminal mischief, which the DA has since reduced to disorderly conduct, are being challenged.

Barbara Celis, a journalist that writes for the Spanish language newspaper El Pais, broke the story, and has posted details that the Posterboy and Enjoy Banking crews were involved, with many pictures from the action.

To summarize, Seiler again:

More than about art, this project was about public participation in the visual construction of their shared environment.

Related posts:

  1. In Review: Trade School, Artists’ Lottery Syndicate, and Meaningful Street Art
  2. The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Goes on Strike
  3. In Review: UK Denies Iraqi Artists, UC Regents Target Ken Ehrlich, and Groundswell Journals Sold Out


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Discuss (3)

[...] project was about public participation in the visual construction of their shared environment. via Groundswell Collective Written by Steve Lambert, on April 29, 2009, filed under News. Follow any comments here with the [...]

#2 posted by marty good doog, April 30, 2009 5:41 PM

good dog!

[...] kann. [via] Organisiert wurde dieses sog. The New York Street Advertising Takeover (NSYAT) vom Groundswell Collective, einer Gruppe, die laut eigener Aussage an der Schnittstelle zwischen Kunst und [...]