non-sign II

billboard that sells nothing

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on the US-Canada border, in Blaine, Washington, there's an empty billboard where ads usually hang. you can see the sky through it

made by Annie Han & Daniel Mihalyo. commisioned by US GSA in 2007, post-9/11, the border had become a political space. they were asked to make the first artwork a person sees entering the US

they didn't make politics, they made "nothing"

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it's been standing for 16 years

it survived three presidents, covid, almost two years of a closed border, families meeting through loopholes

it survived instagram launching in the same year, infinite scroll, algorithmic feeds. there's more ads, and less time to look around

and the empty frame still stands on the border, with the sky behind it changing every day

probably nothing

❄️