-> To the work’s website.
-> Apr. 2022
-> Keywords: Subvertising (what’s that?), Augmented Reality, Street Art
-> Documentation
Subvertiser (“Instead of an Ad, I Would Rather See…”) is an interactive browser-based program that allows people to point their phones to advertisements and see them covered by works of street art. Taking place in Boston, Subvertiser is a revolt against the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)’s massive advertising program running across its facilities.
The project contains both digital and physical parts. The physical components, stickers, appear in the corners of the ads at the MBTA train stations and bus stops. The stickers are designed in a way that mimics the official MBTA’s design styles to minimize the chance of them being removed by staff.
People can easily spot the stickers while looking at the ads, and they will be able to follow the simple instructions and scan the QR code on the sticker. The QR code will lead the visitor to the “camera” page of the website subvertiser.art, which requests to use the visitor’s phone camera. Once permitted, the visitor can point their phone to the ad and see visual contents augmented onto the original advertisement. The augmented artworks are related to the local history and street art culture of Boston, and visitors can tap on the works on their phones and learn more about the background. Visitors are also given options to navigate through the website, read about the project, send feedback, or even participate by submitting their works.
Read more on https://subvertiser.art.