Billboards are urban devices with significant potential for exploring the mechanisms that shape our perception of photographs in everyday life. As ‘contemporary visual monuments’ accessible to all, they foster open discussions about the everyday imagery that permeates that permeates our field of vision in public spaces. Drawing from an awareness of photography’s essential role in defining both personal identity and social belonging, this publication explores various practices: the rise of billboards as sought-after advertising spaces, the work of historical and contemporary artists who engage with them as sites of reflection, and cultural initiatives that transform them into a democratic exhibition format.

In an era dominated by online image consumption, ‘The Billboard Image: In, Around and About’ emphasizes the importance of bringing the focus back to the experience in physical space and cultivating consciousness of the photographs we passively encounter in the public realm—the place where opinions, value systems, power dynamics, and civic consciousness take shape. As public spaces become more fragmented by privatization, gentrification, and individualism, understanding the role of billboards in transforming urban space and, crucially, our collective imagination, is an essential step in reclaiming the spaces we inhabit.

The project ‘The Billboard Image: In, Around and About’ is supported by Strategia Fotografia 2024, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Captions:

—1) Alexander Rosenkranz, “City Cut Off”, 2015–2020. —2) Caroline Hake, “Decollage”, Berlin-Mitte, 1997. —3) Willem De Haan, “Advertisement”, 2021. —4) Maurizio Montagna, “Billboards”, 2008.