Living in a big city, it’s easy to get disillusioned or disenfranchised. I mean, some folks feel like a constant stream of stupid advertising is occasionally annoying. Others find it easy to ignore. But then there are those of us who feel it’s actually oppressive in its own way — who feel that being bombarded with propaganda about products or TV shows you never asked for might actually be worth rebelling against.
Dazed & Confused publisher Robert Montgomery, equipped with a poetic, subversive sense of humor, and inspired by the Situationist Movement of 1960s France, found a way to channel that frustration into public works of art. Drawing on the artistic tradition of détournement, Montgomery hijacks advertising space, turning billboards into poetic, abstract reflections and critiques on capitalism and the modern lifestyle. Turning a vehicle of mindless capitalism into something intellectually engaging and challenging? Seems like something we can get behind.
3 Comments
This is sweet. I hope to buy a billboard someday as well.
John Lennon did it as well: http://tinyurl.com/3gufrjp
Me too man. I guess that part of my frustration with advertising being everywhere has to do with how much potential it has to be a dope medium. So much you could do with it.
Actually though, Montgomery often doesn’t buy the space. A lot of the time, he’s doing his thing illegally.
Good for Monty going above the law.
Will do you mean people could do way more artistically in the medium of advertisements? Or do you mean literally that billboard space could be “pure” art (not selling a thing)?
We need the passionate people to have enough capital. A 30 second vignette instead of a coors light ad during the super bowl? I’m with it.
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