Shifting Urban Landscapes and the Politics of Spectacle

von Roos Gerritsen

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In seinem Essay untersucht Gerritsen die Entwicklungen in der Stadt Chennai (im Bundesstaat Tamil Nadu). Hier geht die lokale Administration seit 2009 gegen die auswuchernde politische und ökonomische Plakatwerbung vor.  Anstatt dieser Plakate und Fassadenbemalungen kann man nun an den Wänden und Häuser entlang der Hauptstraßen Kunstwerke mit Bezug auf die tamilische Kultur und Natur bestaunen. Heute gibt es an über 3.000 Stellen ein Verbot öffentlicher Werbung und immer mehr lokale Motive anstatt der nervigen politischen und ökonomischen Plakate zieren viele andere Wände in Chennai.

„As postcard images the new murals have contributed to the reinforcement of the iconic, standardized status of history, tradition, and the beauty of the State, but is not their repetition again creating indifference? I think we can be almost sure that after the newness of the mural form has worn off, the depicted scenes will return from their short-lived presence in hyperreality into the sphere of clichéd, everyday manifestations that are largely unnoticed. For the moment, the city authorities steadily continue to embellish even more public walls.“

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