Taking down ads and putting up art in San Francisco
helloartcity.comThis kind of reminds me of the banksy quote which I think comes from the book Cut it Out:
People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.
- Banksy
Not taking anything away from the quote's message, but a bit of controversy because Banksy didn't give the original author of half of the quote credit: http://www.readingfrenzy.com/ledger/2012/03/taking_the_piss
Read the update linked at the top of the article. Banksy did give credit, but due to Life, the internet buzz machine ultimately didn't recognise it.
The author cleared it up in that update which I missed. Appreciate the author's transparency but it seems like he inadvertently caused this big kerfuffle over a misunderstanding. Hardly the buzz machine's fault for reporting on the author's original post.
This quote was written on the wall of a company that did nothing other than send spam on behalf of anyone who would pay them. The irony was palpable.
This isn't a "concept," either. It's happening — first art goes up 7/7.
It's funded so far by tech and ex-tech people. Hopefully it's a helpful contribution to the growing bridge between the tech and arts communities in San Francisco.
Your volunteer sign up form is broken. Might wanna fix that.
Oh man. This is awesome. Let's do this with the web!?
Yeah. Fuck Advertising.
My take on how advertising tricks you into thinking it gives you the web for free, when in fact it costs you more and fucks up the web while at it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7767811