Urban Democracy

They're called Litfaßsäulen – the traditional outdoor advertising columns that are a characteristic part of public space in German cities.

In contrast to their more modern counterparts – the light-boxes and the high-tech billboards that are geared to the needs of passing motorists and the demands of deep-pocketed advertisers – the Litfaßsäule is a democratic dinosaur. It was intended for pedestrians, the heart and soul of our urban environments, and it left space for the little guy amongst its wonderfully messy patchwork of overlapping messages.

Seeing our work on one for the first time left a big impression on us. It was only a series of posters for a new exhibition at Berlin's Museum of Ethnography, but to us it seemed as if they were being displayed in some grand public gallery.