Artvertising: Million Dollar Homepage Goes Offline?

Somebody once told me that getting onto the web was no problem--it's getting off that's difficult. The best example of this wisdom I've come across lately can be seen in The Sandberg Institute's current Artvertising Project. The Sandberg Institute is located in Amsterdam's economic business center, an ideal spot for a physical variation on the Million Dollar Homepage concept. Tiles on the building's exterior are sold to artists (at 10 euros per) or advertisers (at 20 euros per), including, so far, Ikea, Nike, Apple, and BMW. The project attempts to address "the borders between commercial art and critical art, commerce and information, private business and public space," but, in reality, there's not a whole lot that distinguishes this building from a four-sided billboard. It's a novel method of subsidizing rent on a commercial space, for sure. But, compared to the Million Dollar Hompage, it lacks a little of the immediacy that characterizes the clickable link. Plus, the fact that most people will use the internet to see this project speaks to the online environment being better equipped to handle this type of thing. Still, there's definitely more money to be made here, even if it is for art. | Via Marketallica |

By: cory o'malley