Make Art, Not Ads

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A new app called No Ad subverts the very idea behind most mobile software, enabling the user to make a political and artistic statement instead of simply providing a service or a distraction.

No Ad functions as a real-life form of the advertisement-blocking software that has become popular online. Open the app, hold your phone’s camera up to any advertisement in the subway system in New York City, look at the screen and the ad is replaced by a piece of art.

No Ad is curated by its creators, Jordan Seiler and Jowy Romano. Mr. Seiler, along with his partner at theRe+Public Lab, B. C. Biermann, developed the technology for the app, and Mr. Romano, who writes a blog about subway art in the city, helps choose which art will show up in place of advertisements. So far, No Ad relies mostly on the work of street artists the developers are acquainted with.

Mr. Romano said the app had two purposes, which stemmed from his and Mr. Seiler’s interests.

“Jordan represents the anti-advertising aspect of the app,” he said.

“I’m more concerned with the bringing-the-art-into-the-subway aspect.”

For many, an art exhibition during a long commute would be a welcome substitute for the bombardment of ads.

But while the No Ad project is laudable, the app will have to get past several hurdles before it becomes anything more than an intriguing concept.

When I took it out for a test, the app blocked only about half the ads I pointed it at. It was unable to function if ads had been in any way defaced or altered, and sometimes it simply did not recognize ads at all, which left me staring at a poster for the television series “Homeland” for about 30 seconds longer than I would have liked.

“As an advertising blocker, it functions pretty poorly,” Mr. Seiler acknowledged. “It’s more of a proof of concept, for once we’re wearing Google Glass or other kinds of virtual reality displays.

“We’ve been able to create an alternative infrastructure using the advertising that’s already there for this potentially large-scale exhibition space.”

Mr. Romano, who is well-versed in the city’s street art, has picked a nice variety of pieces to show in place of the ads.

Unfortunately, there are small problems here as well: Though the artists are identified above their work in the app, it’s not always easy to see their names. And then, of course, there’s the problem of looking at art through a phone screen, which I still can’t get used to (though the approach seems popular with tourists at the city’s museums).

Despite its flaws, No Ad functions as a model for apps aiming to be more than labor-saving software.

Its creators plan to update the art offered on a monthly basis; starting in mid-October, the app will be displaying images from the International Center of Photography, focusing especially on the work of the social documentary photographer Sebastião Salgado.

Once the presentation is smoothed out (or we’ve all transitioned to wearable gadgetry), it will be well worth exploring.