Seen this week: reaction to the pro-Olympics juggernaut here in New York City. These are cannily-designed hacks to the flood of pro-games ads in the subways. Always great to see critique merged with creativity on the streets.
These signs are being distributed online to anyone who wants to use them--no time-consuming organizing meetings, coalition building, or applying to resentful city officials for march permits. Maybe this is the evolution of domestic activism, now that the power of earnest mass protests may have run their course. And they're making smart use of the tropes of Madison Avenue to get their message across as quickly as the viewer might absorb an infobyte about a tv show or brand of beer. Are advertising memes now the default language of opposition as well as acquisition?
As for the local scene, city officials have been guiding reps from the International Olympic Committee around town this week, as part of NYC's 2012 bid for the games. Proponents tout new jobs, major parks restoration, reclamation of brownfields, and waterfront revitalization as benefits the games would bring to the city.
So far, though, I'm doubtful that anyone's committed to creating a green olympics here, especially as the mayor's using the Olympic bid to push a controversial stadium construction plan on Manhattan's west side, with minimal public input. There are already lots of great ideas out there to redevelop the city for a truly sustainable future, physically, culturally and economically. Olympics optional.
Related NYC street art: Williamsburg Doesn't Need A Space Elevator
