4:11pm
18th August 2011
1,120 notes
tags:
art
political
subversive
public art
signage
historical
Norm Magnusson
This is the kind of public art I’d like to see everywhere. A general scrambling of state or corporate sponsored signage, and projects which use the same official form for subversive purposes.
The typical U.S. historical marker raises more questions than it answers, and many of the signs are rife with errors and bias. Artist Norm Magnusson’s I-75 Project uses the form for a different sort of provocation.
The blog Thick Culture quotes Magnusson on the signs’ sly, Zinn-meets-Banksy appeal:
‘Are they real?’ is a question viewers frequently ask, meaning ‘Are they state-sponsored?’ I love this confusion and hope to slip in a message while people are mulling it over. These markers are just the kind of public art I really enjoy: gently assertive and nonconfrontational, firmly thought-provoking and pretty to look at and just a little bit subversive.
(via paxamericana)
