Art on billboard space: Subversive intervention in the city of Los Angeles

Unrestricted The MAK Center for Art and Architecture’s 2010 exhibition, How Many Billboards?: Art in Stead embodies how contemporary art practices have proliferated in the public realm because of the influence of conceptual art practices of the 1960’s. As a critical foundation for analyzing visual representation in the fields of urban planning and marketing, the subversive art exhibition on standard outdoor billboards in Los Angeles transformed its commercial function in the public realm into an experimental platform for art.; Ken Gonzales-Day and Daniel Joseph Martinez’s work both establish how the use of photography and advertising strategies can be creatively deployed to present art instead of advertisements. In examining how billboards have played a significant role in shaping the image of Los Angeles, Manuel Castells’ concept of a physical bridge is applied in addressing the imperative to link local experience with the image of the city.