Cultural Cartography

Art or truth

One of the interesting things about living in our times is that all the boundaries are blurred. We no longer know if something is advertising, art or genuine. Sometimes I know people find that annoying. But to be truthful, I don't really care. If something catches my fancy, then it catches my fancy. 

Like this letter stuck to a heating pipe in an old factory turned into artists studios in Berlin. It seems to be half ripped off and the first line appears to say "My gallery owner threw this out with me..." but as it is half ripped off, who knows. I know that I like making up the story that goes along with these words, somewhat like the people at Found. 

This rings so true

Things marketing people love - or maybe this should say "Things people who work in marketing departments love" 

http://thingsmarketingpeoplelove.blogspot.com/

Plus giving their brand a youth target audience! They think that means they will be speaking to people like this: 

But actually the reality is more like this: 

Photo courtesy of bellagabs

Beware of Greeks

I have just finished re-reading the Odyssey (Greetings and thanks at this point to members of my lovely Book Club) and it struck me again how much of our cultural history is being lost. I had a moment like this a while ago in New York when I realised that nobody on the street around me probably understood the significance of the carvings on the New York Public Library - why were all these people in swirling clothing standing up there and what are they supposed to stand for? The Odyssey is full of these moments where you realise that you just don't quite understand what things are supposed to mean. For example we had a long conversation about hospitality in Ancient Greece: Did you have to take everyone in who turned up at your door? At what point were you allowed to turn them out? But none of us really knew. 

One thing that did become clear though is that the Odyssey is a cracking story. Blood, gore, love, sex and a happy end. What more could you want? 

Interesting Berlin - been and gone

I can't believe it actually took up that much of my time as it did. But it was worth it. My experience of the evening feels a bit like my photos of the cake. One minute it was there, just getting going,  and then it was all gone. And all I could look at was an empty plate. But that sounds tragic and it wasn't at all. It was a great evening, with some really cool people who I am now proud to call my friends, and some truly interesting talks. It will all be up on the website soon and we can get back to normal life - until next year that is! 

Men at work and on holiday

I am working hard organizing Interesting Berlin . We have lots of speakers and the tickets are selling very well (Buy here to make sure you get one). I am also posting on our Interesting Berlin blog  and twittering as well. (http://twitter.com/IntrstingBerlin) so feeling rather digitally stretched. 

So I am going to do what is a classic in Britain in the summer holidays: put up a men at work sign and go on holiday. We are going to Sicily for 2 weeks and I am looking forward to good food and sun. 

I will probably post again before Interesting on 12th June but not sure. 

Long in the tooth

I often wonder about lost semiotic meanings. Indeed I am thinking of doing a series of postings on just that. One thing that struck me recently, after thinking a bit about age and people getting older in general, is how even sayings are losing their meaning. 

Long in the tooth is generally believed to refer to horses and the fact that their teeth carry on growing as they get older (see here). But there is some discussion about this. As I was an expert on useless facts to do with teeth in a past life, I happen to know that one of the by products of humans getting older is that their gums start to recede, making their teeth look longer. However this can be prevented by better brushing etc (I don't want to give you a lecture on how to look after your teeth). 

My question is: As we all look after our teeth better, will this phrase lose its meaning? Or has it already done so. 

Home Cooking

The places I was eating in Memphis were for various reasons not very sophisticated. I was there to do some work on ice tea, so I was looking for the best places that served their home made ice tea. This led to me eating at lots of places that do what they call down there "Home Cooking". 

What was interesting semiotically about these places, is that they used all the semiotic codes at their disposal to be homely and down to earth. Not really basic, just making it clear that this is all about motherly love. One place was called "The Cupboard". I love that idea of raiding the cupboard for food at night, which the name conjures up. Another was called "Soul Fish", evoking not only the idea of Southern soul food, but also the idea of simplicity. 

My biggest surprise at the latter restaurant was to discover that it is not only the UK that does fish in batter. Catfish with fries is amazing. It is like fish and chips but better - and I find that hard to say as a Brit. The batter was crispier and the fish hotter and fresher. And of course I washed the whole thing down with some good ole ice tea. Just as Momma would have wanted. 

The world according to children

I often find that children are the most revealing when it comes to the myths and narratives about the culture we live in. For instance when a child said to me that you could not build a snow woman without a snow baby because women have babies. 

Today I was witness to some more semiotics from children, when the kids where I live now showed me their map of the world made of toy animals and Playmobil people. Not sure what it means, but I did notice that Germany had lots of official cars and animals. Africa has of course exotic animals but also some quite cool cars. 

Germany

And Africa. Note the VW Beetles - cool car for a trip to Africa

Interesting Berlin 09

It might be a bit quiet on my blog in the next couple of months. Or maybe I should say even quieter than it already is, as I am organising Interesting Berlin with some friends. It will be in June, in Berlin (duh) and the whole idea is to just have a really great and interesting evening. And this is a bit more what it is about. 

An evening of interestingness guaranteed to make you think, to make you laugh and to make you go "Mmmm, now I didn't know that." An evening filled with short talks on all sorts of topics. An evening to give you a surprising perspective on subjects you would never normally think about, such as the truth about quicksand, why ping pong is good for the soul and so on. Why are we doing this? Remember when you were little and you got really really excited about something, just because it was fascinating. That's why.

Or as the philosopher Schopenhauer said: 

"Für eine gelungene Rede gebrauche gewöhnliche Worte und sage ungewöhnliche Dinge." 

We have some interesting people lined up to give us an insight into their minds but more are welcome, so get in touch at: 

[email protected] 

check out our blog: http://interestingberlin.blogspot.com/

Official website to follow soon

When things go pear shaped, nostalgia is a great thing

I am in the States at the moment (in Memphis of all places!) and I am really noticing how bad the recession is over here. I can't tell how much it is actually affecting people but it is definitely affecting the atmosphere and mood over here. I even saw an ad for a car share scheme in Boston, saying owning a car is so pre-recession. 

I have a theory which I need to work on a bit more. But I think that all countries have a golden age. This is an age where they were strong, where the world was good and the sun shone every day. This is also the age that gives them their archetypal look and their semiotic DNA so to speak. In the UK this would probably be the Victorian era, in Germany the Weimar Republic (I think) and in the US it definitely is the 50s. What this means, is that if you want to speak to consumers in a way that reassures them and makes them feel good about themselves semiotically speaking, then it is a good idea to use those cues. 

It seems like companies are catching up on this too. PepsiCo are launching a throwback version of Pepsi Cola and Mountain Dew with labels which hark back to the glory days of the US. It uses a version of the 1940s logos. Obviously there is also a POD for these products. They are sweetened with natural sugar. But I am sure there is something more to it than that. In a time when people are worried and unsure about the future, give them something from a past when everything was not just good, but also coated with sunlight.