Faces of Places
From UANotebook
I also moved the images a round. Will upload later.
Tracks removed [1]
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1/10/08
Edensor (2001) uses the performance metaphor to explain how cities and in particular heritage sites act as bounded stages where normative activity is managed by managers (such as service workers) and directors (such as tour guides). The stage design in particular is key in producing “themed spaces” where the gaze of the tourist is directed towards particular visual resources and away from others. We see building façades as key elements of this set design against which the management and direction of urban consumption and experiences take place. At the same time, the often layered visual resources of façades reveal competing interests and conflicting management and direction.
Figure 1. On left, façade decorated with a Soviet era bas-relief and text exalting a prominent Communist leader, Kosigin. In middle, a residential building several blocks away from the tourist center. On right, one of a row of Greek inspired Atlantes holding up columns along a freshly painted pink façade on Nevsky Prospect. St. Petersburg, Russia.
Figure 2. Spas Na Krovi (Savior on Blood), the iconic façade of St. Petersburg, Russia
Figure 3. A façade under construction is covered with a layer of canvas painted façade and another layer of an ad. St. Petersburg, Russia.
Figure 4. Shot in 1991, the first façade on the left hides the ruins behind it (middle image). Shot in 2006, the façade on the right is covered by a canvas image of a façade, much like the one on the left. Dresden, Germany.
Figure 5. St. Petersburg. Stencil graffiti of the Communist slogan, “LENIN SHOWING THE WAY” is written in Zulu and Russian, next to an image of Lenin pointing. Underneath and written in Russian are the words “AGAINST THE RULE OF CORPORATIONS.” The slogan and the image of Lenin have been scratched out. On the left, “Fish” is written by hand with an arrow toward the stencil and the words “SMELL IT” are written above.
Figure 6. Renovated façades in Sibiu’s historic center, Romania.
Figure 7. Car advertisement on Soviet-era building in Warsaw, Poland.
Figure 8. A Coca-Cola ad with an image of the Hermitage façade on the bottle. Tagline reads “The Value of Tradition.” ST. Petersburg, Russia.
Figure 9. Façade branded both locally and globally with a blue banner that reads Polonia (Poland) and the Coca Cola awning below. Warsaw, Poland.
Figure 10. Graffiti covered façade of an old building is covered with a composite canvas image of the same façade cleaned up and displaying a banner ad. Warsaw, Poland.
Figure 11. Freshly painted façade of a puppet museum in Prague’s Old Town with a tourist shop on the right and English signage around it, Czech Republic.
Figure 12. Façade restoration program in St. Petersburg, Russia
