Public Space, Art, and Advertising

An artist collective in New York City is on a mission to blot out advertising in public space, covering it over with their art projects.

1 minute read

January 8, 2010, 12:00 PM PST

By Tim Halbur


The group's current project involves tearing apart popular books, making art pieces out of them, and pasting them over advertisements in phone booths.

Danny Valdes writes, "What started as a personal art project soon grew into much more of an activist-oriented effort against public advertising. As [Jason Seiler, founder of the group] explains, the group's mission is not to wreak havoc, but to defend the first amendment. 'Public spaces are really our last democratic spaces. They are the only spaces that we have left as a society in which we all have an equal voice and can have open dialogue.'"

Friday, January 8, 2010 in The Indypendent

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Rendering of California High-Speed Rail station with bullet train.

California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself

The railroad's new CEO thinks he can get the project back on track. The stars will need to align this summer.

May 19, 2025 - Benjamin Schneider

Flat modern glass office tower with "County of Santa Clara" sign.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing

The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

2 hours ago - San Francisco Chronicle

Aerial view of dense urban center with lines indicating smart city concept.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant

A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

3 hours ago - Governing

Pale yellow Sears kit house with red tile roof in Sylva, North Carolina.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing

Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.

4 hours ago - The Daily Yonder