For the last 30 years, street furniture and outdoor advertising have defined the grammar of our cities. In Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP), cities award long-term licenses for advertising in public space in relation to the partly necessary urban furniture and their maintenance (bus stops, public bathrooms, benches, trash bins, signposts, etc.). The business model is dominated by the few large, globally oriented companies with profits running into billions. For instance, for years Berlin has been “supplied” by the Wall AG - part of the international JCDecaux group as the number one outdoor advertiser worldwide since 2009 (with a turnover in 2014 of 2,8 billion euros in more than 60 countries with 11.900 employees).
Refined design, as the perfectly marketable scenery for customers, is an international standard here. Whether in Rome, Istanbul, St. Louis or Berlin, the feel is identical, without local identity, geared at lifestyle and current design trends.
The project ‘Hacking Urban Furniture’ aims to investigate this line of business that determines the public space of our cities, and programme it anew through artistic experiments. The project sees itself as the starting point of a long-term examination with the objective to not just raise awareness on the side of urban planning and politics but also realize actual changes in future tenders and interdependencies.
