'MARKETING' Part 01
In February 2008 Copenhagen's major train system, DSB, introduced a new supplement to their use of public space for advertisement purposes. They began running ad-campaigns covering the entire exterior surfaces of their trains. This new commercial space has been known in certain environments to be quite effective platforms for visual communication for a while now. Graffiti kids have long been producing customized ornamentation for train-exteriors with legal consequences for some. But with this new initiative on the part of DSB some problematic aspects concerning the legality of expressing oneself visually on trains seem to have disappeared, if one has the finances.
Therefore, we did a SKÆVE BØRN mini-project called 'MARKETING' Part 01, that takes its starting point in the oft-discussed parallel between graffiti and ads - i.e. institutional vs. self-organized visual expression in public space. There are many parallels between the two. Both graffiti and ads are arbitrary messages brought to the public without their consent. They're both colonizing more and more space and are subject to common dissatisfaction. They repeat their messages over and over again, write with the biggest letters possible and pay slight attention to the context in which they appear. The visual language of graffiti is even incorporated in more and more ads. The differences between the two on the other hand are harder to find. We came up with one, which is the money...
We decided to try and buy two train cars worth of ad-space for a period of three months.
Enjoy,
SKÆVE BØRN