DC Metrocentric and others wrote in about the new billboard erected by artist Yoko Ono at 6th and K Streets NW. Yoko’s no stranger to the District Of. In 2007, the artist participated in Street Scenes: Projects for D.C. at several different venues. Yoko imagined peace at the Verizon Center, planted ten wish trees around town, and delivered a (shall we say) interesting lecture in Anacostia. Yoko’s Ex It was recently featured as a part of “Close Encounters at the Katzen Art Center of the American University Museum. And perhaps you’ve run across her work in a recent copy of the New York Times.

Beyond the surface question that Yoko’s Mount Vernon Square piece raises about peace — and art — Yoko’s billboard brings to mind some questions for the city. This is a huge space and an enormous billboard. When Yoko’s piece comes down, will the space be open to commercial advertisement? Did Yoko pay what any advertiser would, or did she receive a subsidy?

Giant billboard advertisements are still a relatively new sight in Washington, and based on the information available from the D.C. Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs (PDF) the rules for signage are much more lax than they are in, say, New York.

Ono’s piece must not count as a billboard, though: The maximum size permitted for a billboard is 300 square feet. The DCRA’s guidelines for public intervention are are a little hard to track down.

Photo by Yoko Ono official