What’s this all
about then?
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| West Leicester, October 2016 |
After driving
past a couple of times - and deciding I couldn’t immediately decipher it, it
was inevitable I’d feel the need to dig a little deeper. Add to that my abiding interest in urban
texts of all shades, plus the fact that it’s situated on the very mental mapping
route in Leicester that fed last year’s ‘Map 4’ painting. Anyway, I quickly decided it needed recording
and commenting on, at the very least.
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| 'Map 4', Acrylics & Paper Collage on Panel, 60 cm X 60 cm, 2015 |
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| West Leicester, December 2014 |
It seems to fit
into a similar category as the ‘Cultural
Black Spot’ campaign I mentioned a few years ago, both in it’s arresting
visual impact, and its use of an allusive, but unexplained legend. In fact, like that previous example, it seems
to have recurred in various locations around Britain - and to represent either
some form of art prank, or slightly more obscure conspiracy theorising.
 |
| Central Leicester, December 2009 |
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| West Leicester, December 2009 |
Routine,
superficial, on-line delving quickly throws up reports of its numerous occurrences,
and speculation about its meaning. It
also leads one to the Legal Name Fraud website and the blog of a certain Kate of Gaia (and a plethora of
possibly deranged theorising, cod-philosophising, and conspiracy paranoia over
a variety of subjects). This particular
campaign seems to focus on the idea that the application of our own names is some kind
of fraud perpetuated by ‘them’ rendering our own use of the same illegal without the State's express permission. The issue seems to be one of ownership of our very identities, and the conclusion - that any contract (or law?) based
on assumed acceptance of its validity should be rendered null and
void.
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| Photo: Middlesborough Gazette, June 2016 |
Now, I love a
good quasi-Situationist prank as much as the next old Leftie, even if this
piece of gleeful mischief-making is clearly based on some particularly
scrambled thinking. The logic of this, however, does seem to point
only towards unworkable chaos, and the undermining of any workable system of identity. Even that is intriguing as an intellectual exercise, or an art gesture, but it leaves
one burning (and also slightly paranoid) question in my mind...
 |
| West Leicester, October 2016 |
Who the hell is
financing what must be a pretty expensive nationwide poster campaign? And
why? The Kate of Gaia website suggests
nothing more than the bedroom construct of a motivated online provocateur, of
the sort that pepper the Internet, and cost nothing to compile. It even makes use of pretty cheesy word art graphics, for goodness
sake, whilst legalnamefraud.com uses the 'Comic Sans' typeface, - both of which makes me wonder just what kind of serious creative entity could be
behind it? The posters, however,
demonstrate more serious design chops, and must be costing a fortune to distribute. Who would bankroll a sniggering teenager or
student prankster to that degree? What’s
in it for them?
Ultimately, for me, it’s just another
of those physical portals in my local landscape - that opens onto an expanding
mental landscape and raises more questions than answers. But, does anyone
know the real story?
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