L.A. artist Susanna Battin‘s latest work engages in a one day action (this Friday, Dec 2) to restore the horizon normally blocked by a billboard on the 15 Freeway. The digital image will be viewable on the Southbound 15 after the 91 interchange and is best seen from the second from the left lane. The work is part of the artists exploration of the interactions between the manmade and the natural. Keep reading for the full project description, show times, and map link.
We caught up with Battin over email for a quick couple of questions:
Are you a frequent freeway driver?
I limit my freeway driving to only include visits to my grandma, who lives off of the interstate 15 where the new installation is to be shown, and making other long distance trips.
What’s your favorite taco in LA?
Favorite Taco in LA is from La Fuente #6 in Highland Park.
This year in Los Angeles we’ve seen a Wikileaks billboard, End of the World billboards, a Billboard takeover by Banksy, and now a billboard begging Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore to tweet about puppy mills. It seems like a crazy way to get attention, but it just might work– we’re covering it, after all. If it does, will we see a wave of Celebrity extortion via billboards, demanding tweets for this cause or that one? How about one begging Lady GaGa or Justin Bieber to tweet “Free Revok”?
You may have noticed billboards like the one pictured above sprouting up for the past few months all over Los Angeles. They’re not just here, they’re all over the country with the same message– the Apocalypse is coming on May 21st. The signs are sponsored by two groups affiliated with Christian preacher Harold Camping of Family Radio, who believes he has pinpointed the precise day of the rapture, the end of times, and Christ’s returning to Earth. He did this by working out mathematically-based prophecies in the Bible for the past three decades.
According to Camping, the number five equals “atonement”, the number ten equals “completeness”, and the number seventeen equals “heaven”.
Christ is said to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.
If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar year, not to be confused with the lunar year), the result is 722,449.
The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.
51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.
(5 x 10 x 17)2 or (atonement x completeness x heaven)2 also equals 722,500.
Thus, Camping concludes that 5 x 10 x 17 is telling us a “story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we’re completely saved. What that means for me and you is that (as of this writing) there are only 15 days to get ready for the big day! So what can we do?
First of all, leave your church. Camping has been very clear that leaving your earthbound church is important before the rapture comes. Second, don’t be gay. Camping has stated that Gay Pride is a major factor in the end of the world coming.
If you’re really worried about this, one thing that might give you small comfort is that Camping previously predicted the end of the world would come in September of 1994. He later said that a mathematical error lead to this mistake, and he’s sure that this time he’s got it right.
Ron English had some fun on April Fool’s Day down at the Texas/US border, putting up the three pieces documented here. We’re big fans of Ron’s brand of fun. You can click all the images to see bigger versions, and there are more on Ron’s website Popaganda.
We missed this video when it came out 3 years ago. Featuring the mighty Augor and his billboard liberation missions. Great to hear directly from AUGS and see him in action. Also features Too Tall Jamhal of the immortal 50MM.
A group called Support Wikileaks Los Angeles has raised money and placed a billboard supporting the revolutionary website Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange. The billboard is up at the southeast corner of Highland and Santa Monica Blvds.
You know the tide has turned when a company actually wants to have anti-corporate graffiti subverting their corporate signage. But Banksy is big business these days, no matter if he is a subversive force who’d rather compare the working stiff to a monkey than paint his name endlessly and sell t-shirts. Las Vegas-based company The Light Group is super pissed off that billboard company CBS has removed its L.A. billboard, which is thought to have been re-worked by Banksy. Heavy speculation has placed Banksy in L.A. for The Oscar he’s nominated for (in other news, he’s actually invited to the show now) and recently the billboard was liberated subverted to show an intoxicated Mickey Mouse hanging with a loaded Minnie Mouse. If it’s a real Banksy, ker-ching, it could be worth a zillion-and-a-half dollars. So guess what happened?
