Do-it-yourself Pixelator in NYC

Turning plasma ads to pixel art.

"Since 2003, the MTA has made available for exhibition purposes 80 LED screens located at subway entrances across New York City. Unfortunately, the high cost of exhibiting (an estimated $274,000 per month per screen) prevents most artists from having access to these facilities. While the MTA's effort to create more opportunities for video art exhibition in public spaces is to be commended, selected works remain wholly fixated on commercial goods and media conglomerate events, a short-sighted curatorial choice that regrettably ignores the full potential of these promising exhibition spaces.

In an attempt to broaden the scope of MTA's video art series, Pixelator takes video pieces currently on display and diffuses them into a pleasant array of 45 blinking, color-changing squares. Since the project is an anonymous collaboration, the resulting video is almost entirely unplanned and unanticipated, with the original artists helping to create new works of art without any knowledge of their participation."

DIY!
via A Life Less Mediated

Los Angeles may be going Blade Runner too, with "roughly 900 billboards across the city that could soon be converted from conventional to digital, lighting up your street or bedroom with a 50,000-watt flash," says Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times. He urges Mayor Villaraigosa to adopt restrictions on what will be distracting saftey hazards and a "congested constellation of 900 drive-in movie theaters."