Following on from the guerilla art traditions of the 20th Century and taking inspiration from the Dadaists, Situationists and Street Art movements, the Brandalism project involved one of the largest reclamation of outdoor advertising space in UK history as artists challenge the authority and legitimacy of the advertising industry. We are tired of being shouted at by adverts on every street corner so we decided to get together with some friends from around the world and start to take them back, one billboard at a time.
Installed over five days in one continuous road trip that has covered the length of the country, the Brandalism crew have hit 37 spots in 5 cities. Edited and developed on the fly, this project sees the culmination of 8 months work and we will be adding more content to the site after we get some serious sleep, updates will follow daily…
Inspired by a little known writer Sean Tejaratchi, the infamous British street artist Banksy plagiarized and popularised the Brandalism term in his latest book – ‘Wall & Piece’. It is from here that we are picking up where they both left off with the Brandalism project by putting words into action with the world’s first international, collaborative subvertising project.
The Brandalism project seeks to draw connections between various disciplines, countries and themes by creatively interpreting information from the wide network of sources that have helped to shape the project. The Brandalism project sees representatives from arts; community; activist; third sector and academic networks coming together to share their perspectives and expertise for this project. We also see 24 prominent artists from 8 countries responding to this collaborative venture from diverse disciplines – street art; graffiti; illustration; political art; photo montage and culture jamming.
Following information from recent diagnostic reports into how the advertising industry shapes our culture, some of the worlds best artists explore the ethical debate regarding advertising, the spectacle, consumerism and it’s effects on our environments and each other within the public realm. This is both in terms of ecology and climate change as well as the ‘visual pollution’ of our mental environments and personal well-being.
There are over 100,000 large scale billboards within the UK. These are the focus and canvases of the Brandalism project and approximately 50 billboards will be reclaimed for the communication of art works, ideas and messages that subvert these spaces and the expectations of the viewer.
For years artists have learned the tactics and methods needed to create art works within the streets and we have the ability to use this creative potential to show others ideas, images and truths. The Brandalism project will be pushing the boundaries of appropriate acts of citizenship at a time of political, environmental and economic crises.
Love to disobey and disobey to love.
Brandalism.