Filed under: posted by deluxe...
recently i’ve be working with members of the vancouver public space network (VSPN) a grassroots collective that engages in advocacy, outreach and education on public space issues in and around the city of vancouver… notorious for doing some pretty fun and innovative stuff, the group has a number of key focus areas ranging from greenspace to transport and urban design… what caught my attention thou was their focus on the increased corporatization of the public realm, much of which is often in contrary to government planning regulations… corporatization refers to those adverts, billboards and shitty posters that corporates often use to market any number of products…
i feel i need to be clear here in saying that i am not against public adverting – some of which is innovative and enjoyable – rather the extent to which this should be allowed and to what expense, particularly if corporates are leaving up adverts or creating adverts well outside the prescribed regulations and councils aren’t doing their proper jobs… the expense on the public is usually that they have no choice as to what goes up and for how long… and yes yes the counter argument being councils are often under resourced…
couldn’t a better option be giving some power back to the local community to monitor the corporatization of space… maybe even in some instances, or at certain points in time, advertising space could be dedicated to the showing of public art, even better if prepared by local artists… think about it… and check out the story here and here in which a group of ‘urban activists’ (otherwise known as the Toronto Street Advertising Takeover or TOSAT) used public art to take back space… check the awesome images below and remember power to the people… with luv x
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