Life With No Ads

Gregor Graf is currently exhibiting a series of works at the Austrian Cultural Forum  called 'Hidden Town'. In it, he's used photoshop to remove all traces of signage and language from photographs of London Streets.  So you end up with images stripped off people, traffic, street signs and all commercial paraphernalia. As a result, once familiar streets become barely recognisable. The effect it has is strangely unsettling - not just because there's no people and cars, but because without all the signage and commercial embellishments the streets just look so...well different.

Oxford St:

...and Soho:

Via

Comments

[RNB]

It is very interesting, thanks for sharing it.

The streets look soul-less, but that's because there are no people there, not because the advertisements are necessarily an intrinsic part of the streets. However much we marketing people depend upon them, adverts are almost by definition an unwanted intrusion, few people look specifically for ads.

But the fact that there are so many ads on the high street that we just don't notice, until highlighted by pictures like this, is the same issue as our recent thoughts on the more measurable world of attracting online banner conversions.

[Rob @ Cynic]

It happened for real in Brazil, well interms of blatant outdoor advertising ...

http://robcampbell.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/advertising-even-less-desirable-than-a-city-full-of-hookers-drugs-and-muggers/

... and as I said at the time, it's funny [and sad] how we have allowed ‘volume of advertising’ to subconsciously dictate the scale and importance of a town, city or country - and seeing these photos reaffirms that view for me even more powerfully.

For all these brands jumping on the environmental bandwagon, I wonder how many appreciate they are causing visual pollution every single day of their/our lives!

And what's wrong with ROCK ME AMADEUS?

[neilperkin]

Thanks Rob. Good points. As for Falco, well I'm afraid that's where your good thinking stops and your bad taste starts ;o) (mind you, easy for me to say when I'm the one with it on my ipod)