Art for All to See

How Many Billboards? Art in Stead is an urban exhibition being put on by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture.  A map on their website shows the 21 billboards they have replaced throughout Los Angeles with new work by commissioned artists.  The exhibition will run through March.

Without simply adding to “visual noise”, using billboard space for displays of art actually incorporates the exhibition into the life of the city rather than making it a spectacle or a closed in destination.  “Commercial messaging tells you to buy; artistic messaging encourages you to look and to think.”  The MAK Center invites observers to “explore, enjoy, and tell [them] what you think.”  Something tells us that, being in Los Angeles, there will be people with paint that will be willing to share some opinions and sign their names to them, too.  Google Maps lets them know exactly where the feedback collection centers are.

Vandalism aside, this is not a new idea.  This is not a recent argument either.  Street art and graffiti has been making this statement for years, but with less dollars backing it.  It’s the next level gentrification of the artform, beyond just putting it on canvas/prints and sticking it in galleries.  There’s even a bus tour, for goodness sake!

[via TrendLand]