The Street Advertising Takeover (SAT) is a “large scale non-violent civil disobedience project” originated and organized by the engagé New York based artist Jordan Seiler. The idea is to hijack public advertising spaces and billboards by replacing the ads with art. The first Street Advertising Takeover took place in New York (NYSAT, 2009). In the meantime it was brought to Toronto (ToSAT, 2010) and Madrid (MaSAT, 2011). Which city is next?
From the ToSAT website:
“ToSAT (Toronto Street Advertising Takeover) is the first international street ad takeover project. Working in Toronto with the Pattison Outdoor Core Media Pillars, the event included 60 artists from around the world and removed over 90 street levels ads as well as nearly 20 billboards from Toronto’s public environment. While we would like to thank all of the artists who submitted work, without which this project could not have happened, we owe an incredible debt to local Toronto street artists PosterChild and Sean Martindale for their on the ground support and unending dedication to the cause. As well, a special thanks must go out to Martin Reis whose photographic support provided imagery of the streets without which we would have been blind. Lastly and not least, this project could not have taken place without the DUSPA collective and the incredible group of volunteers who risked arrest to install all of the work as well as help plan this wonderful event. Given the complete success of this event, we hope the TOSAT project will provide us with both a model and the confidence to bring this type of large scale non-violent civil disobedience project to cities abroad in the years to come.”
From the MaSAT website:
“MaSAT (Madrid Street Advertising Takeover) is the second international street ad takeover project, and the third in a series of civil disobedience projects intent on changing our expectations of public behavior in our shared environments. For this SAT project we targeted Cemusa bus shelters in 4 heavily populated locations around Madrid. This time, at the request of our Madrid based collaborators, participants were asked to submit only text based works. This fantastic idea allowed us to open up the submission request process to a wide range of individuals including sociologist, teachers, lawyers, gallery owners and anyone with a concern for the curation and participation in public space. Each of the 106 individuals were asked to submit one sentiment they wished to see exhibited on the streets. The result is a variety of unique visions of public dialogue and a glimpse at the possibilities available when we open up our public environment in a truly public way. While I was personally worried about working in a country where I do not speak the language (well), the incredible efforts of the Madrid based organizers, NEKO and A. De Pedro, made the entire process possible and far exceed my expectations. A special thanks to C100, Nuria, Jaime Alekos, Dos Jotas, Luzinterruptus, Sue, Rosh, Clara Urra, 3ttman, Emile, Falansh and Giovana Ordonez Pari.”
