Saturday, June 11, 2005

Back in the USSR


Who says good ideas didn't come out of the old Soviet Union? Certainly not the transit authorities in Maryland, USA, who now display this poster in their rail stations. In case you can't read it, the message is: "Report any unusual activities or packages to the nearest conductor. Watch, Ride and Report."

Baltimore or Leningrad? Who can tell the difference? (Thanks to Gene Callahan.)

posted by Wally Conger @ 12:49 PM   5 comments

5 Comments:

At 6:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That is un-fucking-believable.

 
At 7:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Totalitarian chic is making a comeback in the Peoples Republic of Maryland. This rejection of the Transgressive Aesthetic is over-due, but I had hoped for a revival of the Primitive Art For The Masses School, notable for its bold line and tentative strokes. VANITY FAIR may have an explanation.

 
At 12:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about these examples: London, New York and although this isn't related to subways, it surely looks like it might be from the Daily Worker ("socialist realism"), from near me in Madison.

Those, along with the one you feature, are listed here.

I can testify that the madison.com billboards are very "soviet style," in appearance. They are in several locations along the beltline, not only the one linked above. There are several others in the same style. Very bizarre.

 
At 7:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I saw the same style of art, if this Kitsch may be called art, in two life-size statues of heroic Aryan Warriors flanking the main gate at an SS Kasserene (barracks?) in Germany during the Autumn of 1945. The heroic portraits of der Fuehrer had mostly vanished or been defaced. A kitsch ideology demands a kitsch aesthetic and a devotion that would honor a Templar. It is amazing what people can be persuaded to die for. Understanding HUMAN ACTION requires a devotion to the social disciplines that can overcome the distaste for observing human folly. Consider how the Kommissars of Maryland have unmasked themselves somewhat prematurely, and sorrow that a Citizenry of a formerly great state have succumbed to the lure of Big Brother (for they have learned to LOVE Big Brother, who will provide for them in all things while smiting their enemies.)

 
At 5:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Could it be that the artist is simply trying to make a point by subtly implying that the surveillance craze is akin to totalitarianism?

 

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