Cultural Cartography

Of course it isn't just art

The house that I saw that had shoes all down the front of it turns out to be a really interesting project, particularly for someone like me interested in the intersection between brands and culture (in this case high culture - art). It is an empty house where different artists have been allowed to install their work in the different flats. And the whole thing is sponsored by a DIY chain, Hornbach, here in Germany. I like that. I think it's quirky and interesting. And above all surprising for a DIY brand,which are generally much less interested in art and more interested in wallpaper. So good on them. I am definitely going to go and have a look. And you should too, if you are in Berlin. Torstrasse 166. Open from 12-22.00 til 12 October. 

"Always something to do"

Saw this being put up yesterday on the way to see a friend. Proof that Berlin really is the home of modern art at the moment. Even the houses are getting involved. Don't know anything else about it though. Despite having googled "Immer was zu tun" which fittingly means there is always something to do. Which is of course true and particularly in the case of this house.

Signs that save lives

A very brave friend of mine has flown this week to Haiti to work with an aid organisation for 3 months to help provide medical assistance and distribute aid. I had a quick look through the documents that she was sent to help prepare, in particular the Security Manual. It was a very scary document, especially because up until then, I hadn't really thought about the dangers that go along with the sort of crisis situation which now exists in Haiti. The Manual was a general manual so it tried to cover everything - situations where you are threatened by people and situations where you are threatened in other ways. One of those other situations is minefields!! In minefields the signs and symbols that you see have a very concrete meaning: they are there to warn you and hopefully protect you from injury. 

Some of the symbols that are used are stones painted red, coke bottles on a stick and cairns. Now interestingly I have just come back from hiking in the Lakes (beautiful!) and we saw lots of cairns. In fact up Great Gable it was the cairns that helped us find our way. 

On a minefield the cairns have a very different meaning. Instead of meaning walk here, they mean precisely the opposite: Don't walk here. And sometimes, my friend was told, the signs for minefields aren't even obvious, unless you know they are there. 

It's a very good lesson in the importance of context in semiotics. 

And of course a lesson in altruism for us all.  

Hockey Mom??

One thing that has struck me whilst reading all the articles about Sarah Palin is how often she is referred to by the shorthand of "Hockey Mom". Now I lived in the States for 3 years and I think I understand a lot of the cultural references but I am still not 100% sure about hockey mom. What about all the people who have had no more contact with the US than the ubiquitous TV series. Do they know what it really means? Come to that, do the reporters and journalists who are using it really know what it means. 

It clearly refers to Ice Hockey and not Field Hockey (as it is called in the US). But is it good or is it bad? Does it mean self-sacrifice or wallowing in your children's success? Does it mean that she is down to earth or extremely sporty? 

And is one Hockey Mom always the same as another hockey mom. This article from the Baltimore Sun gives a bit more insight into the typologies of Hockey Moms that exist. So even that isn't that easy. 

More than anything, this widepsread appropriation of a US term in European media suggests to me that the media is succumbing to one of the biggest problems in global branding - the assumption that we all know what something means and attach the same values to it. Sometimes it works, but very often it doesn't. 

Old logos seen with new(ish) eyes

I am back in London for a couple of days before heading off for an idyllic week's walking! One of the first things that struck me was the old British Rail logo that you still see when you get on the train at Stansted.

It really is a design classic. (as said here). What really struck me is that you know what it is, without having to think what it is. It makes use of elements of the product itself - in this case the rails; delivers a sense of what the product delivers - movement; and above all presents a clear sense of an entity which has a sense of purpose. The latter is actually more than what now adds up to British Rail does, but hey ho! the logo is still around and maybe sometime BR will be back.