São Paulo: A City Without Ads | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters

"The Clean City Law came from a necessity to combat pollution … pollution of water, sound, air, and the visual. We decided that we should start combating pollution with the most conspicuous sector – visual pollution." - Mayor Kassab

On The Media's Bob Garfield interviewed Vinicius Galvao, a reporter for Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper, about São Paulo's ban on visual pollution.

bg: I want to ask you about the cultural life of the city, because, like them or not, billboards and logos and bright lights create some of the vibrancy that a city has to offer. Isn't it weird walking through the streets with all of those images just absent?

vg: No. It's weird, because you get lost, so you don't have any references any more. That's what I realized as a citizen. My reference was a big Panasonic billboard. But now my reference is art deco building that was covered through this Panasonic. So you start getting new references in the city. The city's got now new language, a new identity.

Read full article here:São Paulo: A City Without Ads | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters

Aleix Plademunt - Espectadors

Espectadors, 2006.

Massage Station at JFK airport

Get massages by the minute while waiting in airport. Is in general an unusual environment. People don't feel themselves in airports. Many people are nervous, tired, anxious, excited, sad etc. Heightened emotions.

Firstly the relatively new trend of having quite intimate treatments in public has developed. People get their beauty treatments in the open in shopping centres instead of in a private room. In a way this is promoting the service because people can see others getting things done and so are more likely to do it themselves?

Also the tipping system in the US is bizarre in contrast to the UK. It is interesting to look at this contrast next to the way the two countries have grown. The US is a very young country and New York in particular has grown from a business base structure rather than a religious force having a strong influence on the economy and how the city has grown. The idea of progress is essential to think about when looking at New York, and the tipping service. It is a way in which people can express their affluence. It also reflects on the service industry and speaks of the the relative lack of class structure in America in contrast with Europe.