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Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

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Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#381
post #36

I lived until recently in Florianópolis, one of the state capitals of Brazil. It is a naturally beautiful island city, and it has an iconic bridge leading into it ("Ponte Hercilio Luz" if you want to search for photos). For some god forsaken reason, someone got away with building a gigantic - and I mean GIGANTIC - screen billboard right in line of sight of this historic postcard. I don't recall when it was installed,…

I live here and oh God I fucking that that billboard so much. It fills me with pure rage.

I think only the owners and the advertisers like it. Would a couple high power microwave transmitters pointed at it be able to increase maintenance cost enough for them to give up?

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Boca Raton doesn't allow billboards, car dealerships, or Walmarts How does the Walmart prohibition work? Is there a law that prohibits Walmart specifically? How about Sam's Club?

I don't know how it works exactly but assume it's in the city's zoning code. Thinking more about it, there's not a single superstore in the city. A Costco and several Targets are immediately outside of city limits. It's not even that small of a city--around 100k pop.

There is a Walmart Supercenter close to where West Palmetto Park crosses US 441. I don't know it that is outside the city limits.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#383
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> these are distinct forms of street art Can you elaborate on this? I've always thought a mural was just a type of graffiti?

> Can you elaborate on this? I've always thought a mural was just a type of graffiti? According to Wikipedia it’s the opposite: a graffiti is a type of mural [1]. However at least in French and in Italian a graffiti is an inscription on a wall, often done as vandalism, while a mural(e) is more like a fresco which often takes the full wall. As a French, for me this [2] is a mural and this [3] is a graffiti. [1]: https…

My litmus test is "was it asked to be put there". I live in Denver and after we won the NBA finals a local artist put this up this[1] mural and it was coordinated with the business + building owner + local govt. I would call that a "mural" versus "graffiti". Now if you go out to our "warehouse district" you will often see "graffiti", that is stuff the owners never asked for, some kids just showed up and tagged the building in the middle of the night.

[1]: https://media1.westword.com/den/imager/u/magnum/17103041/ima...

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#384
post #325

Anytime I hear about outdoor advertising I think of a quote I saw in the book Civilized to Death. A long time ago man saw Times Square and sat in silence. A few people asked him what he thought. He said this would be beautiful if I couldn't read.

The Times square was the first place I visited in the US, Imagine a bright TV on four walls in a room playing unskippable YouTube ads. That was my feeling, I have no idea why people go crazy about watching ads. To each their own.

In a messed up way I almost think of Times Square as a piece of art representing capitalism. It's one of the few places on earth where the ads are part of the architecture, that is Times Square wouldn't be what it is without those massive ads. It's also just such a hilarious tourist trap because it carries pretty much all the hallmarks of a "tourist trap".

Fun to go there once for the novelty and to see the ridiculousness, but like other commenters have said, wouldn't go back there again.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#385
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in São Paulo for a week, and the city feels depressing. The architecture is horrible, boring, and not well-maintained, especially when compared to the architecture of old European cities where at least the buildings are aesthetically pleasing. The excessive advertising only worsens the situation. I've also visited Berlin, and unfortunately, it too felt quite dull.

What city doesn't feel dull? Where do you live or rather what is city that isn't dull and depressing? Without a comparison it seems strange to compare two completely different cities, in two completely different continents.

Barcelona, Madrid, Vitoria, Girona, Rome, Lisbon, Porto. Many european cities are really pleasant.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Greco-Roman architecture Neoclassicism is much more than “Greco-Roman architecture” (whatever that even means..) (Hagia-Sophia?). Greek and Roman public buildings were pretty awful in almost every objective measure compared to any of the best (or even better than average) buildings designed in the 19th/20th century. Unfortunately the person who wrote that document seems to have a very poor understanding of both arc…

> whatever that even means. It's a pretty common term to describe this style of architecture. Maybe it's not the preferred one but it has good explanatory power (like Greek and Roman) that people understand. > Let say so.. but even then you must realize that these buildings serve extremely different purposes? Sure, but that would provide explanatory power for the Notre Dame Cathedral and it's function, but wouldn't p…

> Maybe it's not the preferred one but it has good explanatory power

I don’t think so. Neoclassicism or classicism (which is what I assume these people might be thinking about) were influenced by Greek and Roman architecture to some degree but in no way is the US Capitol for instance is an example of Greeco-Roman architecture.

> Saint-Quentin, Aisne

It’s also tiny and not space efficient. You would have to scale up a building like that to monstrous level to fit 10000+ employees inside and I’m sure it wouldn’t look good or be very conformable to work in.

I’m not exactly defending the Boston City (though I also don’t think it’s the ugliest public building in the world) but in general sacrificing function for form is not exactly the best approach when we’re talking about buildings constructed using public funds.

> redesigned Notre Dame Cathedral in brutalist style architecture, it would fail in its purpose.

To be fair the purpose of the Notre Dame Cathedral no longer exists, or rather has changed dramatically (from a socio-political centre of power to a primarily tourist attraction)

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#387
post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how it works exactly but assume it's in the city's zoning code. Thinking more about it, there's not a single superstore in the city. A Costco and several Targets are immediately outside of city limits. It's not even that small of a city--around 100k pop.

There is a Walmart Supercenter close to where West Palmetto Park crosses US 441. I don't know it that is outside the city limits.

Yes, the city limits are approximately at Powerline, with deviations here and there. Area to the west is unincorporated.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, good thing art is subjective. To me these are leagues better than ads and they bring social commentary and inspiration far more than any ad. It's one of the few things I am proud of as someone who lived in the state of Sao Paulo for a good chunk of my life.

> they bring social commentary In other words, they're propaganda. At least in the case of graffiti with social commentary, anybody can go out there and put their message up. Murals with social messages are propaganda sanctioned by the property owner, or even commissioned by the government, making it establishmentarian propaganda that pretends to be transgressive by adopting the superficial form of unsanctioned graff…

This really stretches the meaning of propaganda almost to the point where it's synonymous with individual speech. Propaganda is systematic opinion making where some group does things like call tons of people or distribute tons of leaflets, or astroturf internet forums. It's not the same thing as putting up a mural on a building you own, or a sign in your yard.

I think a mural could be part of a propaganda campaign, but I don't think by themselves they merit the categorization.

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#389
post #36

I lived until recently in Florianópolis, one of the state capitals of Brazil. It is a naturally beautiful island city, and it has an iconic bridge leading into it ("Ponte Hercilio Luz" if you want to search for photos). For some god forsaken reason, someone got away with building a gigantic - and I mean GIGANTIC - screen billboard right in line of sight of this historic postcard. I don't recall when it was installed,…

Here's an ad for the screen:

https://floripasquare.com.br/megatela/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7sNpVCgdPs

Re: Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013)

#390
post #356
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you elaborate on this? I've always thought a mural was just a type of graffiti? According to Wikipedia it’s the opposite: a graffiti is a type of mural [1]. However at least in French and in Italian a graffiti is an inscription on a wall, often done as vandalism, while a mural(e) is more like a fresco which often takes the full wall. As a French, for me this [2] is a mural and this [3] is a graffiti. [1]: https…

In Germany, graffiti is the overarching category and the vandalism are called "tags"

It's the same in France actually
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