MFT: A nicer kind of AdBlock - DadaBlock

Overabundance of adverts on the webpages had led to widespread of AdBlock plugins for web browsers. It is easy to understand why they are used. People are often annoyed by ads, its content the way they are presented and find it detrimental to what they consider to be the internet user experience. Because of that they want ads gone by any means. That is reasonable thing to want considering that ads on the web sometimes go way out of limits.

DadaBlock is an elaborate variation on traditional AdBlock plugins for web browsers. It works similarly to any other adblock - it prevents the depictions of the adverts on the ad spaces of the webpages. But instead of simply leaving empty spaces or presenting some kind of allowed content - it shows various works of Dada artists. For example, a little of Duchamp in drag and a little bit of Ernst's near black and a little bit of Tzara, Ball and Hoch buzz chorust splashed like Toyota Thunder Pepsi Blade Runner Inflattable Nosferatu.

It is a great idea. DadaBlock is built on the notion of blatant appropriation and recontextualization. It also hijacks the concept of advertisement for artistic purposes and misuses sincerely. It asks a silly question "What if ad spaces are used as an exhibition spots?" And it is something worth to think about.

In some way ad-blocking is a ground level manifestation of censorship. It is a result of consumer ego-centrism and misunderstanding of basic functioning of business. While it may seem as a form of a protest and direct resistance to a consumerist oppression - the majority of AdBlock simply don't care about that. They want to consume "their own way" (i.e. being affected by different means). But what replacing ads with works of art can do to those consumers?

That thing we will never know because it is doubtful that they will download this specific AdBlock instead of DadaBlock. This makes DadaBlock a gimmick AdBlock for those in on the joke.

But the idea it presents is really worth exploring. The internet is littered with ads of walks of life. They are everywhere. Sidebar left, sidebar right, footer, right in-between the paragraphs of text, as another entry in the newsfeeds, as a pop message, as gentle reminder that you have some kind of unfinished business somewhere. The list may go on.

But what if instead of those pesky ads that are trying to sell you something you will get something to gaze on and contemplate upon? Can it change the perception of ad space? Or the very form of ad space will turn work of art into an advert it is trying to defy?