art not ads

First, apologies for the lack of activity on this blog in recent weeks. Yet again, “real life” has intruded into the diminishing spare time that is available to run and contribute to this project. Hopefully we shall see more activity!

Flying adverts

A few weeks ago I was wandering through Regent’s Park . It was a pleasant spring day, the traffic hum had faded into the background, and life was good. Then, in a distant patch of grey sky, I noticed a little plane dragging one of those huge banners behind it. It was distant enough that I couldn’t read it, so I can’t pass on the advertising message, boo hoo. It saddened me that in the middle of this beautiful park, advertising could still reach me. In one of the few secluded and green spots in London, a relative haven of quiet and relaxation, it was still impossible for me to prevent advertising from being poked into my eyes.

The Royal Parks are apparently governed by the Royal Parks Agency . They receive funding from a central government grant, but supplement it with “commercial activities such as concerts”. It seems that “commerical activities” also includes allowing advertising. Or maybe it doesn’t? Maybe the plane and banner were actually targetted at eyeballs elsewhere. If that’s the case, I wonder how the law regulates this? Provided planning permission isn’t required, is it okay to erect something that can be seen from 5 miles away? 10 miles? 100? It’s time we found out!

Hijacking Spaces

The good people at Space Hijackers have been in touch, and at least one of them has been kind enough to sign up to the Art Not Ads pledge . These are the people responsible for London to Brighton Crazy Golf, National Siesta Day, and Midnight Cricket, among a great many other things. Wonderful. There’s nothing quite like rattling the bars on the cage once in a while.