word on the street – voices, poster series, stamp-festival hamburg altona, 2018

coloured oblongs appear on walls across the city, making their voices heard. not garishly, not in-your-face shoutily, but softly, modestly, unassumingly, unobtrusively. in just two or three sentences. these are the voices of local residents, responding to a simple question: what‘s it like, living here? miriam holzapfel condensed and sampled the answers. the assorted colours signal the diversity of the people speaking, the texts – being quotations – are set in italics. the outcome? snapshots of everyday life – no grand statements, because this isn‘t advertising, no slick slogans, because none of this is made up. these are simple, unheard voices, capturing the moods of a city: acquiescent or sceptical, hopeful or pragmatic. the people speak, public spaces take on personal shades. this is mysterious, disconcerting, an antidote to everything that targets instant comprehension. because ambiguity, after all, is a marker of reality. and reality is where we are.

voices
poster series
stamp-festival hamburg altona, 2018

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