Reinforcing Local Identities Through Landmarks and Their Representations in En-passant-media : The Special Case of the Angel of the North

• The public sphere is filled with officially planned and sanctioned but also with non-sanctioned signs that represent local or regional culture: landmark buildings and developments compete with sub-cultural markers like graffiti, tattoos, and even messages on textiles (the group of en-passant-media). The official construction of place-images and the non-directed expressions of identity complement each other as both show processes of canonisation of motives. Town planning works with developing areas around landmark buildings and attractions, which are promoted by place marketing as focal points. They are designed to trigger developments and to influence the image of places. On the other hand, messages on walls, on textiles and the bearer's skin itself, on busses and cars give information on popular interests and style-preferences. Their references can be read as indicators of importance that themes, motives, and issues are credited with by the public. they can be understood as a kind of vox populi that can be (but not always is) independent of place marketing and other mass medial discourse. Like landmarks, but in a very different way, they represent places and their cultures, too. This paper argues for combining the analysis of visual representations of town planning and of public communications using en-passant-media as recording and analysing them allows for a more differentiated understanding of cultural agendas.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Place promotion

Landmarks

Landmark buildings

en-passant-media

graffiti

public & private space

semiotics of landmarks

landmarks as signs

public places

image & identity of place

town planning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)