Be Yourself Movement (BYM) is an Italian art collective with an agenda. The group has made some uninvited collaborations with advertisements found on billboards, bus stop shelters, and the walls of subway stations throughout various cities across Europe. Their mission: to rally against the “daily bombardment of messages that aim to impose upon us one collective thought, one way of being and living and one appearance.” Whether BYM has any influence on people’s thoughts about consumerism and identity or not, the result is something interesting to look at while waiting for public transportation.
View more of their amendments to advertising after the jump.
Want to give it a try? Under the “Ammo” section on their website, you can print out a variety of noses, mustaches, glasses, eyes, and even a set of maracas, if you want to alter any advertisements near you. Below, watch BYM do some late-night redecorating of a Milan metro station while listening to fast guitars and noisy drums.
[via notcot.org]
Comments (13)
[...] Via [...]
yawn
Stupido!!
I love any art that involves re purposing advertising. Hopefully this will branch out and become more colorful and unique.
I think it’s pretty cool.
warming up my printer right now… ;-)
since when vandalism ok. keep it legal!
If you want re-purpose advertising…get into advertising!
Not so fresh (posterboy or decapitator are older and much more know) but interesting. It’s not properly vandalism since their works is on public paper and their manifesto is full of proof concepts.
Someone wrote on their Facebook fanpage few line i definitely agree with:
I think the town hall should give to street artists the same space they sell to poster ads. Did anyone ask me if I wanted to see a Versace poster while Im waiting for the bus? Id rather see a piece of street art.
Valid point from the fan…that we don’t have a choice on the advertising that invades our mental and visual privacy. However, those advertisers have put up the expense(employing artists in the process). It would be interesting to see what would happen if street artists could purchase space. . .
It seems they ripped off Gogol Bordello’s slingshot logo, no less.
http://themusicfruitbowl.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/gogol-bordello.jpg
Derivative in its entirety.
[...] tiptoes around the politics involved, calling their article “Be Yourself Movement: Corporate Collaborations or Pure Vandalism?” But unless the defacement and public derision of these companies and their property is [...]
On my website, http://www.objectifythis.com, I’m currently running a critique of this piece and the BYM movement. Check it out and let me know what you think!
[...] tiptoes around the politics involved, calling their article “Be Yourself Movement: Corporate Collaborations or Pure Vandalism?” But unless the defacement and public derision of these companies and their property is [...]
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