Hydrant plaques

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Berlin October 2016 photographs of street signs by Aldobranti

Napoleon Bonaparte observed that an army marches on its stomach: it can be observed that the modern city is as dependent on its water supply and, latterly, on its fuel supply.

The artist Aldobranti with a keen interest in history walks around in a city looking at the signs of its function.

These plaques show to the employees of the utility companies and the emergency services the location of the valves and access points whereby the provision of these goods is controlled.

These plaques show in the numbers the size and relative position of each control point. Blue is for water, yellow is for gas and a red band around a white plaque indicates a fire hydrant.

Such technical matters apart, each of these plaques either when found alone or as a cluster presents a poetic connection with its environment. The artist cannot believe that they are placed in ignorance of their environment: the employees of the utility company have made a compositional choice in drilling a fixing point at some height on the wall, considering any co-location with another plaque be it from the same or another utility provider.

Additionally there is a found aesthetic here in the wall textures and paint colours. As the plaque ages in its situation, the house painters encroach on it perhaps with due care; the graffiti painter with much less. The plaque presents a smoother surface to permit a sticker to adhere and a sticky residue when the paper weathers away.

All words and images are Copyright Š 2016 Aldobranti