Signs and National Ideologies
MASZYNY DO SZYCIA (trans. SEWING MACHINES ), Warsaw, 1960s-2007. Ilona Karwinska 2007©
AS I WAS PREPARING a presentation about the Logo Cities project for the World Design Congress , to be held in Havana in October, it occurred to me that I have done very little to explore the meaning of monumental signs outside of capitalist economies. While we might be tempted to make easy, if entirely understandable, associations between neon signs and Western decadence (for example), a new photographic project challenges even this assumption. Polish Neon , a remarkable project of documentation by Ilona Karwinska, reminds us that monumental neon is not the sole preserve of North American drive-ins, diners, motels and casinos. As Karwinska notes, “With their intense interest in neon signs, the state officials [in Warsaw] would regularly request the engineers from Reklama [the State-owned sign company] to drive them around checking the condition of all the signs in the city and planning new ones”.
The recent, mass removal of signs across São Paulo brought cries of “Stalinism” (and “fascism”), and comparisons with the drab architectural sameness that, for some, typified the Eastern bloc. It’s unclear to me right now whether Warsaw is an exception, but the history of communist (albeit post-Stalinist) Poland clearly holds many surprises. Like the signs of São Paulo, Karwinska reports that most of the signs she photographed in Warsaw have disappeared. (Image courtesy Ilona Karwinska .)
Media Architecture Conference: The Impact of Building Integrated Large Scale Displays on Urbanism and Architecture (London, Sept. 11-12, 2007)
The future of logo cities, perhaps. Looks amazing.
Almost Architecture: A Film about High-Rise Signs in Montréal
Introducing Almost Architecture, a short interactive film about high-rise signs in Montréal. This is version 1.0: there are still a few minor glitches, and much more material to be added at a later date. Feedback welcome.
This database narrative was produced using the Korsakow-System*. Thanks especially to Frances Millerd for her major contribution to this production. (Good luck in Vancouver, Frances!)
*In order to play properly, this film requires that your web browser has Shockwave installed. (Here is an FAQ on Shockwave.)
Music video: La tour de pise (1993)
Another extraordinary music video, this time by Michel Gondry, for artist Jean François Coen. Gondry deftly uses public lettering and split-screens to ‘write out’ the lyrics of Coen’s song. With thanks to Mathieu Cournoyer for bringing this gem to my attention.
Music Video: The Child
As we draw closer to the Logo Cities symposium, I will occasionally be featuring creative works that address the broad themes of signage, branding and lettering in public space.
In 1999, for a track called The Child by DJ Alex Gopher, the French directors Antoine Bardou-Jacquet and Ludovic Houplain created a sumptuous city derived entirely from type. (Stills from this video can also be found in Baines & Haslam (2002) Type and Typography.)
