Mediamatic Magazine Vol. 2#4 1 Jan 1988

The foundation for the Advancement of illegal Knowledges (Adilkno)

The Occult traffic Sign For a dangerous fusion of signs


2#4 -

The traffic sign symbolizes the safety of deceleration whereas movement strives for dangerous acceleration. The red, black and white of the prohibitory sign which was introduced in the 1930s emerged from the pre-capitalist absolutist system of power. Its function was to warn cars of the catastrophic aspects of high speed traffic. Traffic signs were int introduced as a primary system to control cars. Motorization was consciously planned and was intended to combat the crisis in economic traffic. The Austrian highway designer A. HITLER was the founder of the European Traffic Initiative (ETI). He confused the need for acceleration with his desire for space . He used the colours red, black and white as his symbol for Bewegung which ultimately led to the obsolete co-ordinates of Blut und Boden. Commuting according to model 4045 was the result of his attempt to conquer by ac. acceleration and destruction.

The red, black and white tricolour reappeared during the post - war period of reconstruction in the form of timeless - looking traffic signs. As the involuntary sign of Blood, Death and Purity, the tricolour had the effect of reviving classic powers over life and death but now in terms of high speed traffic. Just as in centuries past, power took the form of impregnable car by means of well-anchored traffic signs and other constructions.

settlements and strongholds, it can now be recognized from a speeding Because the 1950s desire for space went up into thin air and the terrestrial mobilization of people had no direct connection with this, traffic signs could multiply freely without the catastrophic consequences of previous years.

The way signs look was defined more by the enthusiastic post-war liberation of traffic than by their occult colour scheme. This euphoria was tempered by the fact of fatal traffic accidents. The commanding signs were viewed as symbols of progress. Nonetheless they reintroduced fate and chance on, above and along the syndrome of thoroughfares.
Revolt overthrows or overturns signs in its attempt to control fate itself and to resist the power system of mobilization. The struggle against the signs of traffic power always appeals to the imagination and can be recognized in any form of agitation or riot. This perverting is rarely punished as the powers that be also experience the signs as obstacles.
The Sixties traffic boom obscured the signs' visibility. The possibility of the disappearance of the red, black and white prohibitory sign had already been broached. In 1970, the Keesing Reflector Series published an information brochure called Man/Road/Car. In The Animal Called Man section it states: ...even in a modern vehicle with infinitely bigger windows than a few years ago, the driver can still only use a fifth of his total field of vision and focus on one single object at a time. This means that drivers are so limited that civil engineers may safely presume that they do not notice traffic signs. But up till that point, the signs multiplied in the spirit of democracy. Now, in this fin de siècle, the signs are confronted with a policy to impose sanctions because there are too many signs.

Even before signs . began to be removed from the bustle of traffic, the sign advanced into the slower traffic of a more social kind. The red, black and white prohibitory sign serves this intimate sphere of walkers, cyclists, consumers and day trippers in public spaces such as escalators, railway platforms, fences, public utilities, electronic doors, crossings, traffic signs and household goods. The nagging behavior signs no smoking, no chips serve to advance the awareness of public purity and safety. Blood has been reintroduced as a dangerous sign in the interests of both health and . environment. Dr. J.K. van Wijngaarden of the head office of the Dutch AIDS committee says that it is important to adopt the adage the blood is dangerous stuff in a big way. The Stop AIDS campaign compares the risk of participating in sexual traffic in the fast lane with the eternal possibility of a petrol tanker overturning in a residential area. In the same way the traffic signs of Stop Acid Rain and Stop Immigration try to impress users of environment and politics that these slow forms of traffic have resulted in the same crisis as high speed traffic when it is stuck in an endless queue. In addition, both for slow and high speed traffic, the sign assumes the helpful form of advice given without any obligation that presents itself as information. The fascist red, black and white is relieved by the stimulating democratic colours of blue, green and yellow which are applied as pictograms in an endless variety of designs. The sign masters of marketing have appropriated the signs and refer to each other constantly, whereas the power of the prohibitory sign was that it was completely divorced from
the codes of fashion.

Maybe the traffic sign can be solved by transplanting its sign system into the slower social, political and health circuits but that threatens high speed traffic with a future without signs. In high speed traffic, the tricolour has made way for blue and green but deep down this advice remains a hindrance that frustrates traffic. Those signs which remain on the road acquire more and more the character of nostalgic attractions. Drivers stop to admire them or add them as collectors' pieces to private collections of objects from the modern . Because high speed traffic does not deny its movement principle of acceleration, it derives signs from the faster traffic of information. The car connects with the computer, the automatization of the public is now the issue at stake.

Laser signs, mapping and advice on speed have been introduced to make people drive safely. So traffic becomes Datenfernübertragung. Hence, breaking into computer circuits opens up the possibility of contact with unprecedented risks. This perspective of high speed danger complies more with the principle of movement than schemes for the year 2015, dutifully planned way back in the 1960s. So one takes ones place in the capsule of the computer car in order to select the panorama of one's choice as one types in the time-space co-ordinates of the day. The virtual traffic sign that communicates directly with the computer keyboard without bothering the driver with prohibitions or advice was already being propagated as an alluring dream of the future. But the movement of people
in high speed traffic will therefore disappear into glass fibre cables and
become automation or tourism. The delay in this development through
burglary blockade or short circuit will only lead to clever choices of alternative routes. It's much nicer to cause the various forms of traffic to crash.

Exchange in the traffic of money, sex, highways and data has always been
about keeping what is pure and distinct about the appropriate ritual signs.
Mixing them is traditionally condemned like the sign incest which leads to death and destruction. Life will always seek out danger and will be drawn to the very centre of contamination.
Translation ANNIE WRIGHT