(From our press release)

What if something overheard in a restaurant ended up on a billboard? Starting this week Pittsburgh’s late night Waffle Shop, which happens to have a talk show right on the premises, launches a billboard driven by its guests and their conversations.

A storytelling system developed by Waffle Shop founder Jon Rubin and architect Pablo Garcia, the long defunct billboard structure atop their building in East Liberty has been re-purposed in the style of a large, analog Twitter account.  The static message of a typical commercial sign is supplanted by a set of custom-made, hand-cut letters that float on rails with only the sky as the background creating a live marquee that that can change on demand.

The Billboard’s first message reads, “PEOPLE THINK I’M A GHOST. I DON’T KNOW, IT’S REALLY HARD TO TELL. I’M KIND OF LIKE A GHOST, AND I MIGHT BE INVISIBLE.” This quote was taken from a eight-year-old guest on the Waffle Shop talk show. For the first several months messages will feature overheard conversation from customers visiting the Waffle Shop, while future billboard posts might include: 120 character biographies,  micro-resumes for locals looking for work, or conversation overheard at area businesses.
Rubin says, “The billboard functions as one more way of broadcasting the conversations and ideas that are catalyzed by the Waffle Shop’s open talk show format. It’s almost like a thought bubble for the building.  The new design for the billboard takes the “board” away from the billboard and presents the text floating on rails with only the sky as the only background. The visual form seemed to nicely reflect the more poetic and personal nature of the statements it will support.”

Garcia says,”The billboard is an interesting twist on our current preoccupation with the digital broadcasts of a person’s thoughts. It seems familiar in its Twitter-like format, but inserted into the public realm disguised as a familiar advertising venue.”

The billboard is made possible by generous support from East Liberty Development Inc., Sota Construction Services Inc., and We Do Property Inc.