Yesterday morning, on the way to the office, we noticed something was pleasantly different about the Museum of Modern Art’s temporary display inside the Atlantic Avenue subway station. It seems (from the looks of the artwork) that Poster Boy and Aakash Nihalani had worked their magic overnight, and transformed several of the MoMA’s art reproductions into new pieces. Classic works of art were remixed with samples from advertising and cut-outs of other pieces. Aakash Nihalani also spruced up the MoMA’s advertisements and added some nice colored tape boxes in strategic spots around the station.
Unfortunately, as of last night most of the remixed art had been taken down. It’s a shame, because they were very well executed – and added a twist to the well known art used in the exhibit. If only the MTA could see the value in this unusual street art collaboration they might actually encourage more public participation. (And I think many people were waiting for this kind of thing to happen anyway.) More pictures below.
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Great Catch Dan. The remixed images are great and I understand their value as critique of new and old, but I worry that a stunt like this will dissuade other worthwhile institutions from going to the trouble of transforming our normally ad-cluttered commutes. So admittedly I’m a bit torn. Curious to know if they had replaced the cut-ups with the “original” works again by the time you came back through?
February 24th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Excellent point Scott. Yeah, the perception of this kind of thing as vandalism could hurt the prospects of such an exhibit happening in the future. As of last night, the originals were not back up, but I would assume they will be soon. I was 99% sure Poster Boy was going to hit up this spot – MoMA should just embrace it, and re-frame the situation as a positive.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:44 am
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/02/poster_boy.html
February 24th, 2009 at 11:27 am
My head just exploded from all the different contexts here. Crazy.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Ahhhh… now all that pink seems less coincidental…
February 24th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This sort of “vandalism” is so well executed and transforms the public advertisement to a level of art…. which speaks from the streets… this new art really is what the MoMa should strive to represent… the contemporary art of the public for the public…In the end the museum should be quite happy about it as it has brought more eyes on this seemingly hidden ad campaign.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
is this really public for public? i would disagree…this enlightened hipster for enlightened hipster
February 25th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
@ haterade: “enlightened hipster for enlightened hipster”. LMAO you speak the truth. @cosmo – you are right too, even though the execution was somewhat of a mess, there is a lot of good things within the situation. Poster Boy’s art should have been kept up – and if it was all sanctioned, everyone should just be upfront about it. He’ll be in the MoMA eventually anyway
February 25th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
This is a brilliant example of modern art at its best. A true mash up of art and commercialism executed in a guerilla fashion. So convincing it could’ve been a commission.
February 25th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
what’s to look at for some is an invitation to play for posterboy. It’s all a matter of perspective…. observe and report or participate and grow the exhibit…. some people call it the evolution of art:)
February 26th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Doesn’t anyone else here see this as a final co-opting of this gimmick? I mean, the ad agency that put the posters up brought the guy in as an advertising stunt.
Poster-boy is just part of a long tradition of creative vandalism, and not even a particularly interesting embodiment of it.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:59 am