Bus Shelter Ad Space Takeover

What if you could replace the ads in bus shelters with messages of your own? What if public spaces spoke to you, instead of projected ads at you?

This is what the team at Wooster Collective did earlier this month in Madrid. More than 60 contributors woke up at the crack of dawn and surprised Madrid’s bus riders with a message take over.

Check it out:

We were honored to be asked to participate in the latest PublicAdCampaign project: the Madrid Street Ad Takeover project. Last Thursday at 5:30 AM over 106 messages replaced advertising in light boxes around Madrid. 4 teams of 16 dedicated folks took only one hour to complete the takeover. Though removed within about 5 hours, most were documented and can be found here. Luckily, there were no arrests.

Contributors were asked to send in text that was printed in black on a white background. People involved included artists, lawyers, teachers, sociologists and gallery owners. Everyone submitted a sentiment about what they would like to see in public space to create a vision of what the public environment could be.

You can read more about the takeover and see more pictures at Wooster Collective.

Though advertising in bus shelters is probably a necessary revenue generator, I can’t help but wonder what kind of messages we would put in our Muni bus shelters if we had the choice. Ideas?