This book documents the transformation of the roadside billboard from a medium for commercial advertising into a versatile platform for contemporary public art. It accompanied the inaugural exhibition at MASS MoCA (1999), which featured a retrospective of artist-designed billboards from the 1960s onwards, as well as newly commissioned works. Contributions to the book come from influential artists such as John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Félix González-Torres and the Guerrilla Girls, to name a few. With nearly 300 entries and colour images, it offers the first comprehensive overview of the billboard as an artistic medium. Essays explore the history of artists’ billboards, their roots in European art posters and political messaging, and how they engage with issues such as racism, feminism, consumerism and AIDS. Many of the works do not ‘sell’ a product or political message, but instead use the billboard’s public visibility to provide conceptual and social commentary.
Publishered by MIT Press 1999. Texts by Laura Steward Heon, Lisa Dorin, Peggy Diggs in English on 108 pages, illustrated throughout. The paperback’s dimensions are 11.8 x 8.9 inches (29.7 x 22.5 cm), ISBN 978 0262581776
