Last Saturday, ads-in-public-spaces activist Jordan Seiler spearheaded NYSAT, or New York Street Advertising Takeover, where teams of artists, videographers and activists replaced 120 unregistered billboard advertisements throughout the city with original art installations.

Here's a little background from cronicasbarbaras.com about the targeted billboards:

As the main organizer explained to the artists who choose to get involved, the agency that owns the 'attacked' billboards operates on an illegal basis. "NPA outdoor operates over 500 street level billboards in NYC ranging in size from about 4'x4' to 50'x12'. All of these advertising structures are illegal. I found this out by talking to the NYC Department of Buildings which has no permits for the NPA outdoor structures but has its hands full dealing with the rampant illegal billboard situation. I have also spoken directly with NPA outdoor employees who have told me that the NYPD will jail them from time to time at which point NPA lawyers bail them out and they are compensated 500 dollars for the nuisance of spending the night in jail".

Last year, we linked to an LA Times story about the similar nuisance of illegal billboards in Los Angeles.

There's a lot of coverage of the event available online, as well as pics and videos of the various installations. Here are a few good places to check out the results of the event. Some of the art is quite nice.

(Found via Bad Banana Blog)

(Photo: "Delete" by Ji Lee)