The Tension Between Public Art And Advertising

Last week, on an early summer evening, a group of 30 artists gathered in downtown Seattle to create public art above the ads. This community-organized movement served as a social commentary on the tension and asymmetric dynamic between art and advertising in public space.

Artist Brady Black assembled the group after observing the use of public space throughout his career as a muralist. “It amazes me how we allow ads to do almost anything they want, but any public art is under massive scrutiny,” he shared.

Because the eyes, and thus the perspectives, of a community are influenced by what they see around them, there are real implications to having that exposure available to the highest bidder. This decides who leaves their mark on our public spaces and who is left out, highlighting the economic and social inequalities at play.

Art is saved from all angles. The art that reaches museums and galleries is filtered in a way that has historically kept diverse representation to a minimum, with artists shown in US museums being 85% white and 87% male, in rather than reaching only the subset of the population that frequents those. spaces Public art projects are carefully curated, edited and engaged by the organizations that have sponsored them, often resulting in diluted messages. And unsanctioned street art can quickly be covered up, erased or even penalized.

“It's very difficult to create art in the city,” reflected Black. “You have to have a permit, have a listening session. The community association needs to see yours and make sure your colors match. If someone is offended by any element of the design, you have to change everything, or you might even shut down the whole project.”

Instead, the limits on public ads are primarily financial, with $9.34 billion forecast to be spent by 2024 in the US alone.

Greg Morrison, co-founder of MXML Creative, explained, “Typically, the challenge a brand faces when creating out-of-home (OOH) advertising is not limited by regulations specific to that city or state, but what that allows the company that controls the billboard, the bus shelter, the park bench, etc.”

Laura Mai, director of marketing at Grit Blueprint and an independent consultant, recounted her time helping clients advertise in public spaces. “Regulations on advertisements in public spaces mainly concern consumer goods and political advertisements,” he shared. “You can't make false claims on consumer goods, they have to accurately represent prices, testimonials and the product itself, but technically you can do it on political ads as long as you say who's paying for the ad.”

“It amazes me how we allow ads to do almost anything they want, but any public art is under massive scrutiny,” Black mused. “Wouldn't it be better if advertisers had to plead and demand their right to exist and be accepted in our public spaces?”

The tension between public art and advertising is not limited to the US. Aislan Douglas, a multidisciplinary artist from Paraíba, Brazil, has also observed this dynamic. “Economic inequality places corporate ads in the visual domain due to their virtually unlimited budgets, making them ubiquitous. Instead, public art relies on limited public funds that rarely cover the full costs of projects,” he shared. “This economic imbalance contributes to the predominance of commercial messages over community artistic expressions.”

The imbalance of public art announcements has a tangible impact on communities.

“I think relentless advertising in public spaces is harmful to people psychologically, financially and physically,” shared Andre Decolife, a Brazilian street artist who lives and paints in London. “It offers no respite to their eyes and deprives them of their own ideas or thoughts as they are inundated with storms of products they are supposed to have.”

“I'm the one for sale. My attention is being sold,” Black exclaimed. “Look at all the billboards, signs and sides of the buses: they have no artistic value. Art takes care of you. Even if he is trying to challenge you, he really cares about you. All ads are just selling to you.”

Douglas agreed. “While advertisements aim to capture the public's attention unilaterally, public art seeks to engage the community, providing a platform for reflection and dialogue.”

Black explained how he started making street art. “I was doing a gallery show and a guy said to me, 'The people who need to see this won't see it, because they won't go to a gallery.'” Then, recently, when one of his pieces was covered in ads, he re-created the piece at the top with the words “Ad Art.” This caused this latest movement of artists to push back the announcements surrounding them.

Black intentionally kept the Art Over Ads project uncurated, in contrast to the rigorous applications found in gallery exhibitions and residencies. I wanted to bring together artists who had not ventured into public art before. “Public spaces are for the public, but they no longer feel that way. This project is being developed through all gatekeeping and doing it together. This is a non-competitive space. If you show up, you're part of the team.”

Douglas sees hope for a world where we shift scales between ads to art. “By balancing the presence of corporate advertisements with community artistic expressions, it is possible to create urban spaces that reflect the diversity and cultural richness of our communities.”