Art Media Project Essay of Anthony Galoyo Sabarillo SOCG107 Dr.

Ann Vogel Dont Feed the Pigeons: An examination of Singaporean Signage My Art Media Project discusses how Singaporean signage benefit people, affect their behavior, and even shape their perception of the space they use. At first, it was quite uncanny to see the lengths the government went to forbid the feeding of pigeons along Waterloo Street, but this rule may have good reasons behind it, i.e., the avoidance of having bird excrement in public spaces, as identified by Margaret Lyons. Most signs, after all, are aimed to promote the welfare of the public, and many have the notion that signs direct people to the right acts. But some people still choose to disobey this rule. Is this because people, at times, know better than what the signs impose on them? The short video aims to answer this question by exploring how signs have helped and directed people, and developed their sense of responsibility for and belongingness to spaces. It presents three questions: what have signs done for us, what do signs do to us, and what will happen if the signs are taken away? First, it is acknowledged that signs benefit people. The video shows various ways in which signs help manage and maintain spaces, as well as encourage behavior for the benefit of people. Signs warn against danger, provide information, help discourage cigarette smoking, and help direct traffic and pedestrian flow, among others. However, signs can also make people feel that they are not responsible for the management or maintenance of the spaces they use (quoted in Ooi 106). Also, according to Sibley, a sense of exclusion can arise from ensuring safety in public spaces, with the use of surveillance (qtd. in Ooi 105) and even with explicit signs that warn against trespassing. These feelings or impressions could create the sentiment that the government is solely responsible for managing and maintaining public spaces (Ooi 105). Signs thus shape how people perceive their relationship with their space, and thus their behavior too. What some signs can do to people is make them feel being watched, as is seen in the video where surveillance cameras keep a close eye on users of space. Signs can also give the impression that authorities do not trust them to comply or follow rules. But this exclusion seems to be one side of the story. If there are people excluded, then there must be people included. And these people are the ones enticed by other signsthose of place of consumption, or commercial spaces. These people are the ones who are able to escape the reversed prison described by Menp (qtd. in Ooi 104) where people who cannot afford to consume goods and services stay. Thus, while those alienated from the spaces they use derive satisfaction in escaping from the reversed prison, there are still those who are trapped outside the commercial centers. And even the promise of malls and other spaces of consumption (Ooi 104) imprison or chain people to their wants mistakenly thought of as needs. In the end, the video concludes by showing the manner by which people try to escape exclusion both from the private and public spaces. People disobeying signs which they think might not really maintain or manage the space in the manner the public desires. It discovers that the signs need not even be taken away if people were to act against them. Some feed the pigeons because they derive enjoyment from it, or, possibly, even think of the birds welfare. Some possibly think that this personal (or possibly societal) benefit from feeding the pigeons outweighs the good intended by signage. Feeding the pigeons takes in many forms, like jaywalking. While some offenses may seem more inappropriate than others (smoking inside a hospital waiting room, for example), there would always be rules which some people break, because they would to take responsibility or control over the maintenance of the space they use. Public space, after all, belongs to the public. For as long as there are people who are aware of their role in the management or upkeep of public spaces, there would always be pigeons having their fill.

References: Lyons, Margaret. "Don't Feed The Pigeons." Chicagoist. Gothamist LLC, 13 Dec. 2007. Web. 8 Apr. 2011. <http://chicagoist.com/2007/12/13/dont_feed_the_p.php>. Ooi, Giok Ling. Future of Space: Planning, Space, and the City. Singapore: Eastern Universities, 2004. 104-06. Print.