NYSAT WEBSITE LAUNCH : THE HOLY GRAIL OF NYC AD TAKEOVER

Our good friends at Public Ad Campaign have worked very hard (twice) to pull of the New York Street Ad Takeover (NYSAT). The NYSAT was a great project that helped replace illegal advertising in the city of NY with art by local (and even some none local) artists. Even a few Abztract featured artists took part in the event.

Well, apparently the folks at PAC have been working even harder and taking all the photos, videos and info and putting it together for a micro site for all to enjoy (and learn a bit about the illegal advertising that goes on in NYC by NPA. who by the way may also be operating illegally in your town as well).

Check it out. There is a lot of videos, images and even the Project Documentation tab has all the locations listed as links to each illegal ad that was placed, how it was whitewashed, and then how it was replaced with art.

For those who do not know what NYSAT is, please take the time to check this site out. It was a fantastic project for us to be part of and we hope that (if/when) it happens again, you can join us.

Link: http://www.publicadcampaign.com/nysat/

NYSAT2 Timelapse X Philip & Shai Interview

Curious how easy it is to roam the New York City streets and whitewash illegal advertisements? Get an orange vest and nobody will ever question your doings.

To see a timelapse video of artist MOMO use this vacant billboard to place his amazing work, make sure to go to The Street Spot to see it: The Street Spot Site

Video timelapse via Luna Park

also, Shai Dahan and Philip Lumbang were approached by the folks at NYCtheblog.com and gave a video interview about why they took part of the NYSAT 2. Check it out below.

Via NYCtheBlog

Uncovering Hug Life

As the NPA found out about what was going down on the afternoon of Oct. 25th, the illegal advertising company was quick as lightning to repost all the artwork with ugly new ads.

But, in every strike there is a counter strike. Here is a great examples of people not letting the possibility of defeat ruin the hope to continue to fight.

These two guys managed to make it in time to the HUG LIFE billboard art made by Philip Lumbang during the NYSAT2 and managed to peel off the newly posted posters plastered by NPA only hours after the art was completed.

Major kudos to these guys.

The Streets : For The People By The People

As we mentioned, On Sunday Oct. 25th, a large group of activists, artists, and folks who came from far and wide (we met artists and whitewashers from Los Angeles, Seattle and even Toronto) all came together to reclaim the New York City streets back from illegal advertising from NPA Advertising. NPA is a company who operates as an advertising billboard company that wheatpastes movie posters in over 500 locations across the city and spreads wider yearly.

On Sunday, artists across the scene came together to whitewash these illegal billboards and give something back to the city. Each artist used the newly whitewashed space to give some free art back to the public. Not only did the white canvas draw attention from the public who grew so immune to seeing ads on their block day in and day out, but to give them some art gave them the beauty to enjoy a gorgeous Sunday outside their home and feel like their own block is special. That is something NPA can never achieve.

Jordan Seiler, an Abztract featured artist but most importantly, started Public Ad Campaign which brings a great deal of attention as to how the illegal advertising is taking over the public spaces across the world and how sometimes (much like on Oct. 25th), the public has to take action to its own hands.

Below is a collection of some of the work that only a small percentage of artists put up. The NPA company (along with some NYPD officers) hit the streets hard. 5 arrests were made that day but the project was a huge success getting a ton of attention across the internet including New York Times. NPA already covered all of the artwork with new advertisements and the whitewashed canvases are now only a memory from yesterdays past. But the battle will go on. This is only the second time NYSAT was put on and it hit NPA and their operations harder then the first time. Fret not as we are sure many more takeovers are to come in the future.

For now, enjoy the images below for they will be on websites for years to come and THAT is something NPA can never repost new posters over.

Make sure to click on the links below to the photographers Flickr pages to see these in full size along with other images not shown here.

Images courtesy of Luna Park, Sabeth718, Unurth, Gaia

Posterchild

Beth Whitney @ Meatpacking District

Monty Burns takes on Bloomberg

Gaia

Gaia

Royce Bannon

Sir. Dickchicken

Moses Says

Mexican Wrestlers

Royce Bannon and Friends

SERF & MINT do a BUFF BUM (a photo of an actual NPA employee)

NYSAT2 : Shai Dahan and Philip Lumbang help take illegal advertisement down

On Sunday, October 25th, 2009, along with our good friends of Public Ad Campaign, Philip Lumbang from LA and Shai Dahan hit the NYC streets to help whitewash illegal advertising that are placed throughout the city by NPA Advertising.

From 10 a.m., Shai and Phil, along with a more than 50 other whitewashers in groups of twos took to the streets to take back public space from illegal advertising.

Below are a few images of Phil's and Shai's work. Unfortunately, NPA and the NYPD found out about the plan rather early and many locations were either re-pasted by NPA with new ads or artists were ticketed and/or arrested.

But, we here still see it as a success. New photos of other artists coming soon to new posts.