MTO paints “We Live On Google Earth”, a new piece in Gaeta for Memorie Urbane

While we last heard from him for Art Basel in Miami, MTO is now back in Europe where he landed in Gaeta, Italy for the latest edition of the excellent Memorie Urbane Street Art Festival.

The elusive French artist spent a few days working on a giant 125 m wide piece which mimics the effects of Google and a 404 error.

The 404 or Not Found error message is an HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested.

First Case Of Artistical Censorship By Google Corp.
“In the small city of GAETA, Italy, a giant 125m (471 ft) wide mural by French street-artist MTO has been silently censored by Google CORP. Is this the first case of artistic censorship on our good old Google Earth? One thing is for certain, it’s sure to open a huge can of worms, as governments around the world consult their top legal minds and grapple with the implications for freedom of artistic expression. The censorship happens against a backdrop of growing international revolt against Google’s global supremacy in information control. NATO is now thought to be looking at all options to overturn the decision and thereby prevent a massive worldwide protest in the artistic and journalistic worlds.” — MTO

Hit the jump for a closer look at this piece with images from Flavia Fiengo and then make sure to drop your two cents down in our comments section.