It slumbers in each of us

According to a frequently quoted statistic, we are bombarded with 3,000 advertising messages every day. 5 of them were clearly too many for Sarah Vetsch and Steffen Lemmerzahl. "We were always annoyed by the uncreative posters hanging on the wall of our house." The artistically questionable messages of the SVP were a particular thorn in the side of the young couple from the film and art scene. Instead of putting their foot down, however, they picked up the phone and negotiated a deal with Clear Channel: Sarah and Steffen are now allowed to use their billboard three times a year for two weeks to promote their own views. In January, they surprised passers-by for the first time with contemporary art instead of posters. The second vernissage followed on Monday of this week. "Advertising is art" was the motto of the open-air exhibition. After the Hammerstrasse homeowners wrote to "a few advertising agencies", the creative minds at Publicis, Contexta, Euro RSCG, Wirz and Walker were "immediately on fire" for the artistic challenge. Frank Bodin himself painted the work "Hommage" with unmistakable allusions to Andy Warhol's Campbell cans. The series of four budget cans can be purchased on the Stern Agency website. The proceeds go to the SOS Children's Village. Two agencies have opted for art with typography. Pius Walker declared "Art is advertising" and Urs Fürer with Iwan von Rickenbach at Wirz used the example of their Mobiliar to show what remains of an idea when the art is left out. Andreas Panzeri

The budget boxes by Frank Bodin are entitled "Hommage". They are hung in a series of four (top left). Contexta has upgraded the Appenzeller Sennen to art using frames. The chocolate speech bubbles were created by Publicis.