How Many Billboards?: Art in Stead - Tapa dura

In February 2010, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House launched How Many Billboards? Art in Stead. This large-scale, urban exhibition debuted 21 new works by leading contemporary artists, which were presented simultaneously on billboards throughout Los Angeles. How Many Billboards? was curated by MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer, with co-curators Lisa Henry, Nizan Shaked, and Gloria Sutton, and public art consultant Sara Daleiden. The billboard projects were accompanied by an overview exhibition at the Schindler House from February 27 through June 30, 2010, as well as a series of public programs and tours

For the exhibition, each artist was commissioned to create a new work that critically responded to the medium of the billboard and interpreted its role in the urban landscape. The exhibition followed decades of discussion amongst Los Angeles residents and officials about billboards and their impact on the city. How Many Billboards? explored the political and artistic implications of these media surfaces that saturate the city's landscape, while also offering an alternative vision for displaying art in los Angeles. Investigating art as an idea, as well as art as a medium for critical intervention, the exhibition also highlighted the interaction of Pop, Conceptualism and Identity Politics in Los Angeles since the 1960s.