‘This is exciting for artists’: is this project the future of billboards?

An ambitious interactive structure in West Hollywood is the first part of a new initiative set to bridge outdoor advertising and public art

In 1967, Elektra Records took a risk by purchasing a large hand-painted billboard on West Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard to promote a new album by The Doors, an up-and-coming local band in residency at Whiskey a Go Go, a nearby nightclub. It would ignite a golden era of advertising on the 1.5-mile stretch known as Sunset Strip, where large-format signage advertised the latest releases to passersby. The area has been home to advertising art since the era of speakeasies and silent movies, and in 1991, the Los Angeles Times proclaimed that the iconic 70ft-tall Marlboro Man sign was a more enduring urban monument than almost any other building in Los Angeles".

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