Facebook’s Anti-Text Art Policy and Artist Residencies at The Compound

More reasons to dislike Facebook: Big Brother is watching, and he doesn’t like artistic images made with text. Oakland’s Compound Gallery recently found this out while trying to promote a post for its Artist Residency Program. The message shown in the photo at above left was rejected because “text” covers more than 20% of the image, an image which Facebook feels would be “disruptive in news feeds, where people are used to seeing photos of their friends and places in their lives.”

Hey Compound Gallery: try your next promoted post with Jenny Holzer‘s iconic artistic text:

Abuse of power comes as no surprise.

Holzer, unsurprisingly, does not have an official Facebook presence.

What exactly are promoted posts? Facebook’s promoted posts are a form of blogvertising in which the proprietors of a Facebook fan page must pay Facebook to reach more of their fans. Dangerous Minds explains in depth here. I can’t help but think it somewhat moronic that a local art gallery/co-op has to pay an international corporation to share word about a free Artist in Residency program AND then change its artfully produced messaging.

So I’ll pitch in. Compound Gallery is 8,000 square feet of artist-owned awesomeness founded by Matt and Lena Reynoso. Last year, the space was voted Best Art Hang-Out by the East Bay Express. Compound Gallery offers artist studios of all sizes, plus community equipment for printmaking, letterpress, ceramics, metalwork and more. Also: there is often pizza, and the vibe is really nice.

Compound Gallery is currently offering six month artist residencies with complete FREE access to all their facilities and workshops.

Our goal is to give artists the opportunity to expand his/her art practice by providing access to a variety of equipment in an inspiring and creative environment. Artists with a specific project in mind and interest in interdisciplinary work will be considered first. Residencies are for 6 months and application deadlines are March 1st or September 1st, depending on which session is current. Two artists will be chosen for each session. Recipients of the residency will have full 24-hour access to the facilities for six months with no additional fees.

Applications for the Spring/Summer residency are due in on March 1st. Find out more information and apply for the position here. Try being cheeky and remixing their rejected Facebook ad!