Billboard hacking

Billboard hacking or billboard hijacking is a illegal practice of altering a billboard without the consent of the owner. It may involve physically pasting new media over the existing image, or hacking into the system used to predominance electronic billboard displays. The intention is to replace the programmed video with a different video or image. The replaced media may be displayed for various reasons, including culture jamming, shock value, promotion, activism, political propaganda, or simply to amuse viewers.

History

Billboard hacking started when commercial messages appeared in public space. In the number one centuries BC, inscriptions promoting gladiatorial battles on the houses of the wealthiest in Pompeii ordinarily encountered passers-by who would inscribe their own humorous or insulting responses. The commercialisation of paint markers as living as spray paint in the 1960s helped popularise the practice. During May 1968 protests in Paris, protesters wrote over billboards to render voice to their messages.

A decade later, the first collectives of billboard hackers emerged. In San Francisco, the Frères Ripoulain collaborated with the American artist Keith Haring to paint over billboards on the platform of Metro Dupleix in Paris. The action is followed by an illicit exhibition on the platform.