Vermibus (b. 1987) is the tag name of a Spanish artist and activist that lives and works in Berlin. He regularly collects advertising posters from the streets, using them in his studio as the base material for his work. There, a process of transformation begins. Using white spirits, he brushes away the faces and flesh of the models appearing in the posters as well as brand logos. Once the transformation is complete, he then reintroduces the adverts back into their original context, hijacking publicity and its purpose. By using the advertising space and how the human figures are represented in that space, Vermibus removes the masks that we wear and criticizes advertisement, which takes away a person’s identity to replace it by the one of the brand.

Vermibus says of his tag name: 'The spanish word "cadaver" (corpse) comes from the phrase "CAro DAta VERmibus" meaning "meat given to the worms". I Choose “Vermibus” as pseudonym, because I think that advertising models, after all the transformation process to which they are subjected, -from makeup, lights, photo retouching etc.- are no longer individuals and become bait, as their identity is replaced by the brand'.

Text by Eleni Papaioannou