“‘NO AD Day’ is about controlling the over saturation of our minds and environment by commercial media, so that we might address our consumptive needs in a more meaningful and productive way.”

At night, an empty advertising light box is so impressive that your eyes have this weird feeling to be stuck and attracted by these strong white neon lights, even if you stare just a few seconds at the empty billboard.

Besides transforming the models of the advertisement posters into creepy (but nice) ghosts of the Decaux light box netherworld, Berlin based artist Vermibus likes to leave these boxes as an empty white space.

A few months ago he started a new project called ‘NO AD Day’ for which he asked other activists in several different countries to participate. Each activist received a box key in the mailbox to carry out the project.

The ‘NO AD Day’ is linked with the ‘Buy Nothing Day’ from artist Ted Dave that started in 1992 where participants were asked to refrain from purchasing goods for 24hrs. Since then the ‘Buy Nothing Day’ which examines the issue of over-consumption has become a worldwide movement. Vermibus created the ‘NO AD Day’ in solidarity with this movement; the concept is to remove as much outdoor advertising as possible the day before the Buy Nothing Day “in an effort to eliminate the commercial media messages which dominate our public spaces”.  

More than just an action, Vermibus managed to mix Fine Art and activism.